DVD Review: Earthrise

Earthrise is a strange and intriguing science fiction suspense film in which three people travel from Mars to Earth to take part in a somewhat mysterious operation to rehabilitate the planet. Dawn (Meaghin Burke), Vivian (Casey Dillard) and Marshall (Greg Earnest) have been chosen to take part in the Revive Project and are on their way to Earth when the film opens. But things begin to turn weird aboard the ship, and the three people begin to question whether they can trust each other.

When the film opens, Marshall is running down a corridor of the ship, bleeding from his head, and chased by two people. As he collapses on the ground, we hear one of them calling out, “Where are you, Marshall?” It’s an interesting opening, interesting enough to perhaps make us forgive the low-budget sets. The film then takes us back to earlier in the trip, with the three people in what appears to be an art gallery, talking about what is traveling with them in the cargo hold. It is a strange set, a bright, rather spacious room with paintings on the walls, giving the impression that they’re not aboard a ship at all. In fact, for a long time, I believed that the mission might be entirely in their minds, and they might be locked up somewhere and monitored. After all, why such a big ship for only three people? And why only three people? And it doesn’t seem that these three have any knowledge of how to fly the spacecraft. They don’t seem like astronauts, or even scientists. The ship is apparently flying itself on automatic. Again, all this adds to an unsettling sense that this isn’t quite real.

Also adding to that uneasy vibe is the way the film plays with chronology. It is no straight line back to the opening scene. And there are some teases. For example, at times we see Marshall with a bandage on his head, leading us to believe these scenes occur after the opening scene. They do not. Marshall bangs his head twice, the poor bugger. And in different early scenes, two characters will be talking about how to deal with the third, making us wonder if any of these people is okay. The film does provide flashbacks to the three characters being interviewed for the project, and these actually serve to isolate them further, for we never see the person conducting the interviews. The camera remains on each of those three characters. So, again, we are left wondering what this is really all about. Plus, they are asked questions like “Do you consider yourself to be stable?” and “Would you say you’re psychologically sound?” And each of the three suffers from hallucinations. Honestly, it wasn’t until the first exterior shot of the spaceship that I believed they were actually aboard a craft.

Little by little, we’re given information about the mission and about these characters, as well as a bit about the state of humanity on Mars. Interestingly, we’re never told what went wrong on Earth, what led to the initial – and seemingly necessary – colonization of the red planet. What we do know is that people live under a dome, and the trees and animals that are there have been replicated in some way. There are hints that life is not all that good on Mars. Also, only a few trips to Earth are scheduled each year. It’s not clear why that is. After all, the trip only takes seven days. That’s one of the problems with this film. It feels like such a short time for things to unravel the way they do. And we’re not given an idea of how big the population is on Mars. Or on Earth, for that matter.

This movie did keep me guessing. And there are interesting details. For example, Marshall looks at photographs of his wife – actual physical photographs, not digital images. And Vivian reads an actual book, rather than a text on a computer or something. It leads me to wonder if these three are the norm, or the exception. Plus, the mission itself doesn’t seem entirely clear to them. They three discuss rumors they’ve heard of people being used as test subjects. And at one point they settle in front of a screen to learn more about the project. At this point, we do see the screen that they’re watching, so we know it’s not in their heads. The man  on screen who provides some details about the mission comes across as a sort of combination of religious cult leader and salesman. He tells them: “We are all very proud of you for your commitment to the Revive Project. Out of the ashes of many, you have risen. Now that you have begun your voyage to Earth, you are privy to new information.”  Weird, creepy shit, right? This Revive Spokesman also tells them that any letters they send to loved ones back on Earth will be screened, which is also creepy. So what is it they’re getting involved in?

Unfortunately, the film provides no real pay-off. It sets up this delightfully uneasy tone, keeps us guessing about what the Revive Project really is, and about what’s happening to these people, but then doesn’t really deliver. Yes, the source of the hallucinations is revealed, but it’s lame. And when the film ends, it’s with a question. It’s a shame, because I definitely was intrigued throughout the film, and even though the acting is uneven, I became interested in the characters.

Special Features

The DVD includes a commentary track by writer/director Glenn Payne and cast member Casey Dillard. Glenn Payne says the budget for the film was approximately ten thousand dollars, which is nothing. It was shot in approximately fourteen days. They shot in a warehouse in Mississippi. They mention that the biggest problem was outside noise leaking in while they were shooting. Glenn does talk a bit about the art hanging in that main room.

The film’s trailer is also included.

Earthrise was written and directed by Glenn Payne, and was released on DVD on April 19, 2016 through MVD Visual.