Antlers is a horror movie about myths and legends, produced by Guillermo Del Toro and David S. Goyer. Ironic, given that Antlers itself feels like a myth, a film that we weren’t sure really existed. Sure, there were rumours. There was a stylish poster. There was even the odd glimpse of a trailer a couple of years back. Then all went quiet as it became one of the first victims of the Pandemic lockdown of cinemas. Finally released this Halloween weekend, the question is: was it worth the wait?
In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher (Keri Russell) and her Sheriff brother (Jesse Plemons) become embroiled with her enigmatic student (Jeremy T. Thomas), a boy whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary, ancestral creature.
Director Scott Cooper has in previous films (Crazy Heart, Hostiles and Out Of The Furnace) explored the underbelly of America, the struggle of the working class, and modern society’s relationship to Native American culture. The horror genre feels like a natural step to further this exploration. Horror has always been used as a filter through which to examine the fears and anxieties of society at any given time. The main issue with Antlers however, is that it has far too many factors it wants to explore.
Here, the Oregon town in which the film is set is a former coal mining community that has fallen on hard times. Instead of producing fuel, people produce drugs like meth to fuel people’s habits. People here are at their lowest and most lost. Perfect fodder for a Wendigo, a beast that feasts on the flesh of such souls.
There is also commentary on how social care systems – including educational establishments – are failing the victims of abuse, not only through the little boy Lucas, but also through Russell’s character, a teacher who recognises his cries for help because she also was abused by her father. She has returned to the family home to face her demons… only to face a literal one. She is also a recovering alcoholic, as noted by her glancing at the bottles of booze in a grocery store (and nothing else). Unfortunately, her backstory and the fractured relationship she has with her brother become mere afterthoughts in the midst of all that’s going on.
Antlers follows a similar pattern in its relationship to Native American indigenous culture. Despite the film opening with a warning based on a Algonquin saying, Native Americans’ involvement in the plot boils down to an elder providing exposition on the Wendigo’s origins, before disappearing from the film entirely, never to be seen again.
The plot itself does little to provide the scares, and the entire run is completely devoid of tension and incredibly repetitive. It’s then down to the cast to assert the fact that they are indeed in a horror film: they make stupid decisions, they make a show of looking very frightened, some of them even die (which, to be fair, does lead to some great practical effects). But it’s not enough for Antlers to sustain itself on, much less its audience.
Antlers feels less like a feature film and more like the plot of an episode of The X-Files. One half expects Jesse Plemons’ Sheriff to put a call into the FBI as the human remains begin to pile up, and for Mulder and Scully to appear and solve the mystery.
Antlers releases in cinemas from October 29th.