Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Screenplay: Justin Benson
Starring: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Sarah Adina Smith, Jeremy Harlin
Country: USA
Running Time: 116 min
Year: 2022
BBFC Certificate: 15
The directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (the former of which usually writes their films too) have been carving a name for themselves in the indie genre movie scene over the last 10 years, since the release of Resolution back in 2012. Whilst none of their films have been notable commercial successes, they’ve been respected enough to attract the attention of big studios, as they’ve gone on to direct an episode of the new Twilight Zone series, as well as a handful of Moon Knight and upcoming Loki episodes for Marvel.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on the pair since being impressed by Resolution, which I caught at a film festival. Whilst I tend to find their films a little flawed, they’re always interesting and I find myself continuously drawn to what they make.
So, when I heard their latest film, Something in the Dirt, was being released on Blu-ray in the UK, I jumped at the chance to review it.
The idea for Something in the Dirt came out of COVID lockdown. The pair, like a lot of us at the time, were stuck with little to do but they didn’t sit back and feel sorry for themselves. They decided to carry on doing what they love doing and make a movie, but in a DIY fashion, keeping things small-scale like how they made Resolution as young wannabes. In their words, they wanted to “make a movie with their friends” again.
Because of the lockdown, the majority of the on-set production was done by just Benson, Moorhead and producer David Lawson Jr. They starred in the film, shot it and handled audio recording too. The art department and others worked remotely, following instructions and sending over the props and costumes for the guys to use.
The film sees Benson play Levi, somewhat of a drifter who’s tried a lot of things in life but never settled or found his calling. He’s been in trouble with the law too and is still a parolee at the start of the film.
Levi moves into an apartment block where he meets John (Moorhead). John is quite a different character, being devoted to his church and generally more focused, but somehow the two of them strike up a loose friendship.
What draws them closer though is that, one day, as John heads out of Levi’s apartment, they witness a bizarre phenomenon. A strange ashtray floats in the air and emits an eerie light.
Initially convinced they’ve discovered something paranormal, they decide to document it. They buy a bunch of video and audio recording equipment and devote their spare time to capturing the strange occurrences, that continue to build around the apartment, as well as trying to figure out just what is happening and why.
As Levi’s interest becomes more obsessive and John feels like his input isn’t being appreciated, the relationship between the pair becomes strained but the ever-stranger oddities and densely layered mysteries they uncover keep them clinging to the project.
Like most of Benson and Moorhead’s films, there’s a lot to unravel in Something in the Dirt. The mystery of the apartment goes off in boundless directions and can seem overwhelming until you realise that, whilst it provides an intriguing hook, it’s not important to the overall focus of the film. It can be interpreted in different ways but the directors describe the film as a love letter to L.A., digging into the “beautiful weird” of the city.
Something in the Dirt is also about loneliness and has a poignant air to it, as the pair desperately try to find meaning in their troubled lives. It’s this endless search that keeps the disparate pair together, a fact that becomes important as the narrative takes different twists and turns later on.
To me though, the film felt more like a comment on the current times. The internet and the explosion of social media have led to a mass of misinformation and often baseless conspiracy theories due, in part, to blinkered views of the world. People often believe only the opinions of the group they choose to follow and such a wealth of information to hand that may or may not be true causes paranoia and mistrust to run rampant.
This is reflected in Levi and John’s endless freefall down the rabbit hole of the strange phenomenon they discover. As is too often the case these days, neither side listens to the other either. How the journey causes cracks to appear in both the pair’s relationship and their mental health also mirrors the difficulties many face in these troubled times.
Moving away from the themes though, looking purely at the narrative of the film, it’s relatively successful but a little flawed. The original cut was reportedly about 3 hours long and all over the place. It was largely shaped as things moved on in the editing process. As such, there is still somewhat of a rambling, free-wheeling feel to the film though it does seem focused overall. All their films have something of a ‘mumblecore’, hanging out movie kind of vibe anyway and this is especially prevalent here, given the minimal cast and locations.
I wasn’t a massive fan of the final act though. It didn’t quite nail the landing in my mind, though it’s difficult given the nature of what happens (I won’t spoil things here).
I’m also not totally convinced by the ‘meta’ aspects of the film, where we’re supposed to question whether what we’re watching is reconstructed or not. This nicely fits into the misinformation theme I mentioned previously, but I don’t feel like it’s integrated strongly enough through the structure of the film. It kind of comes out of nowhere halfway through and only crops up again once or twice to put the audience off balance.
The film is always engaging though. On top of the compelling mystery elements, there’s a rich vein of humour that keeps the paranoid sci-fi thriller aspects from getting too much. The pair of actor-directors have great chemistry, so it’s fun to just watch them spend time together. It’s not all buddy-buddy though, there’s an unsettling undertone that keeps the mistrust vibe running throughout.
It’s a film I could ramble on about for ages, but I’ll tie things up before I bore you (if I haven’t already). With a scaled-back approach, Something in the Dirt has a ‘going back to their roots’ feel from Benson and Moorhead, and their enthusiasm is catching. Its DIY, ‘let’s make a movie with friends’ background may have caused it to be a little less focused and effective than some of their other work but it still has charm and provides a lot of meat to chew on if you dig into it.
So, once again I’m not 100% satisfied but I remain very much interested in what Benson and Moorhead have up their sleeves in the future.
Film: 
Something in the Dirt is out now on Blu-Ray and digital in the UK, released by Lightbulb Film Distribution. I watched the Blu-ray and the picture quality is excellent, as you’d expect from a modern, digitally-shot title. The audio is strong too.
Special features include:
– Featurette
– Deleted Scenes
– Scene Zero
– VFX Featurette
– Trailer
– Teaser Trailer
– Stills Gallery
The making of featurette is wonderful and helps you appreciate how DIY the shoot was. It’s refreshingly honest at times too. It’s 17 mins, so not particularly long but a lot is crammed in.
The VFX featurette is a nice little addition to this, containing a minute and a half of clips comparing how the special effects were shot to how they turned out in the end.
The 12 mins of deleted scenes are worth a look too but it’s clear why they were removed. The humour is often pushed too far or the performances can be weak. A couple of the scenes help better explain elements of the narrative but, even so, they aren’t totally necessary. I’m glad to have a chance to see them here though.
Scene Zero is a test shoot Benson and Moorhead did to see how effectively they might be able to shoot and act in the film together.
So, whilst not as stacked as Arrow’s release of Endless and Resolution or 101 Films’ Spring Blu-ray, this physical release of Something in the Dirt has enough illuminating extras to make it worth picking up the disc.
Disc/Package: