Directed by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Written by Justin Benson
Starring Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson
Rated R for language and a brief violent image
Runtime 1 hour and 56 minutes
In theaters Nov 4

by “Doc” Hunter Bush, Podcast Czar

Something in the Dirt is an odd duck of a movie. On almost every metric it defies expectation and leaves the audience feeling off-kilter, save one. The one it nails is one you can rely on DIY-duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead to deliver on: modest budget, high concept science-fiction. As an example of what you can achieve with modest means and some dedicated buddies, Something in the Dirt is - like Benson and Moorhead themselves - an inspiration.

Something in the Dirt is the fifth feature length release from Benson and Moorhead. Benson is the writer on all five, with Moorhead handling cinematography, and both sharing directing duties. From their earliest offerings they’ve managed to make huge concepts manageable both on screen and in the minds of audiences, and Dirt makes the most of that ability, cramming concept after concept into our psyches at an ever-quickening pace with no concern for whether they are being fully comprehended. But that’s kind of the point.

“I used to love The X-Files as a kid. Now everything’s The X-Files, I guess.”

Dirt begins with John (Moorhead) sharing a smoke with new neighbor Levi (Benson). Both are at transitory points in their lives: bartender Levi is moving into a new apartment sight unseen and wedding photographer John has just recently split with his husband. These two oddballs find their friendship quickly cemented when they witness a supernatural phenomenon in Levi’s apartment together: a large glass ashtray hovering 5 feet in the air, refracting light across the walls.

Both of these characters fall somewhere on the scale from underachiever to out-and-out loser, BUT, they seem aware of it enough to jump at the chance to use this supernatural occurrence as an ur-event for new careers. They buy newer and better equipment, and constantly do research on their theories as to what the origin(s) of this spooky phenomena might be. From ghosts, to interdimensional thin spots, to ancient cults tied to the secret origins of Los Angeles, everywhere they look they find more evidence. Simultaneously the phenomena continues happening and keeps evolving. A TV set turning on and off, a preternaturally hot closet built to atypical construction parameters, unusual mineral compositions in the foundation under the apartment complex, seemingly meaningful recurrences of the number 1908.

Benson and Moorhead’s 2017 UFO cult thriller The Endless was my introduction to the duo, and examining their back catalog (as well as reviewing their 2019 follow-up, Synchronic, right here on MovieJawn) showed me two filmmakers making consistently larger-scale films with higher production values and taking progressively larger steps toward whatever film will break them through to the mainstream. Something in the Dirt won’t be that film. Probably. Unlike their previous efforts, Dirt isn’t concerned with unraveling an occult conspiracy for its audience, but rather in pointing out the futility and self-deception inherent in conspiratorial thought.

This is, to be clear, by design of the filmmakers. This flick was made under the COVID restrictions, a time we’d all agree was rife with misinformation, and the movie seems to reflect the cabin-fever stir-craziness of staying up all night diving down one wiki-rabbit hole after another in search of an answer, or even just a temporary solution. A lot of clicks were baited with stories about how many people took up bread baking, or started an Etsy, or sang a capella sea shanties during lockdown. Maybe they were getting in touch with some buried innermost desire, sure, but more likely they were just looking to answer the question: What do I do now?

The friendship between Levi and John feels like the friendships you form as a kid, based more on shared geography than anything else. They’re kind of shitty to each other and they lie to or just hide things from the other, but luckily they have their shared obsession, their project, to work on. As such, much like a failing marriage “staying together for the kids”, both characters dive headlong into the documentary they’re making. I realize now that I haven’t yet mentioned that the majority of Something in the Dirt is composed of this “documentary footage”.

Or is it?

Isn’t it?

As the film rolls on, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what exactly is “true”. Both Levi and John are unreliable narrators and since they are dubiously in control of everything we are seeing, it becomes ever harder to figure out what we can believe. As their creators and performers, Benson and Moorhead repeatedly make the narratives of the characters’ lives just as unreliable. New facets will be revealed that seem highly dramatic and meaningful only for them to be something incredibly mundane. Mountains from molehills. At other points something in their investigation will seem to be the lynchpin to a major revelation only to lead to an anticlimactic non-answer, or worse, a potentially unrelated conceptual trail. Imagine unearthing clue after clue, going from checkpoint to checkpoint to ultimately find not the missing piece of your puzzle, but one with a completely different image on it.

The wry point of view of Something in the Dirt takes time to reveal itself. There’s humor in all of Benson and Moorhead’s films, most often through personal interactions, and there’s some of that here too, but due to the perpetually obfuscated nature of what is real, each new revelation becomes funnier and funnier. Of course there’s an ominous geocache at coordinate 1908; oh, spooky action at a distance? Why not? Etc.,etc.

The whole thing is increasingly ridiculous and the experience of watching it won’t be for everyone, but I am well and fully in the pocket for Benson and Moorhead. No one is making things that feel quite like their films and I still hope to see them become more mainstream names. I doubt Something in the Dirt will be the thing that does it, but while you were getting (back) into Animal Crossing they were making a fascinating low budget rorschach test of a movie that only gives back as much as you’re willing to give to it. And I just think that’s neat.