Professor Rust, insufficiently equipped for the upcoming semester, reaches out to his academic colleagues to search for a suitable dig site for the archaeology department’s next course. He understands his success could mean publication and possibly tenure. When a member of his team mysteriously vanishes, the expedition is quickly derailed. They find themselves at the intersection of reality and the afterlife while in a spiraling descent into madness.

Director Dan Bowhers has a keen cinematic eye in which he filmed the forest beautifully. Despite being low budget, the gorgeous cinematography gives it a high production value. It’s interesting how it takes place primarily during the day because that’s atypical for horror movies. The film relies more on atmosphere than jump scares. The patience and discipline in that regard are refreshing. This involves interesting camera tricks encompassing people disappearing and reappearing out of thin air, sometimes within a single frame.

The sound design is also noteworthy. The film uses a combination of a score and ambient noises to evoke tension.

Written by Dan Bowhers and Michael Kowalski, the story isn’t interesting mainly because of how slow the plot moves. This isn’t just a slow boil, more like ice water in a massive vat heated by a tiny candle flame. By the time the main plot kicks in, I felt ambivalent toward the characters because of how little we learn about them despite how much time is spent with them. The writers introduce so many things that it feels like they couldn’t pick a clear direction to go, so they included all their ideas instead. It bothers me when scientists (who are supposed to be smart) do dumb things to push the plot forward. Touching stuff without gloves, putting exposed faces too close in proximity to some things, and not quarantining people acting out of the ordinary due to illness are basic things that they should know are bad ideas to be avoided. Just once, I’d like to see smart people making good choices but still end up in sticky situations because they are being outsmarted, not dumbed down.

The cast includes Michael Kowalski, Emma Jessop, Morgan DeTogne and Michael Gihooly. The performances are fine, but there’s no connection established between the characters as far as dynamics nor is there any relatability to viewers. So when things got weird and scary I didn’t care if they lived or died. I could take them or leave them.

Overall, while it’s a technically sound, well-made film, the script touches on many ideas but doesn’t fully flesh them out, neglecting to explore them in new and interesting ways. The directing is the highlight of the film. The biggest issue is that it’s boring. While it contains creepy visuals, it’s not memorable. It also feels longer than the actual runtime which is never a good thing. There’s a plot device that’s reminiscent of 2001 A Space Odyssey and another that reminds me of Ghostbusters 2. I always appreciate references to classic films so it was fun to see those included. The ending is confusing. It stops so abruptly. I had to rewatch it to comprehend what happened. I’m still not sure what the conclusion means. Beyond that, it’s similar to Lovely Dark and Deep (2023) but I wouldn’t use those adjectives to describe this film. And remember, glory to the hole.