Deep in the night in the small community of Prophet Hills Danny (Daniel Baldwin) watches in horror as his wife is murdered and his two children abducted by evil creatures. But they weren’t the first and they might not be the last if Danny can’t uncover the truth that the money-grabbing mayor (Brad Dourif) doesn’t want the outside world to know.
Where to begin? Let’s start with the positive. Born of Earth’s monster design and costumes is effective. They might just be people dressed up in rubber suits and heavy makeup but they work far better than any CGI monster would.
Everything else about this film screams B-movie. The performances are all over the place. It’s hard to tell if the actors are terrible, disinterested or if they simply can’t make screenwriter Joseph Thompson’s wooden dialogue sound remotely natural. I suspect it’s all of the above. The script is convoluted and vague on details as it moves its cardboard characters through the narrative. I don’t need a fully explained origin story but a better-defined history of Prophet Hill would have helped. There is a twist at the end, but even if you didn’t see it coming it hardly ranks as much of a surprise. In fact it has the emotional resonance of Soylent Green without the quotable dialogue.
Unless you’re collecting Baldwin brothers, adore Brad Dourif because he was in Lord of the Rings or want to check out the creature design I’d recommend avoiding Born of Earth.