Review: Antlers

In a small Oregon town, young Jeremy T. Thomas’ father became infected with something inside the mine he was using for a meth lab. Dad passes the infection on to Thomas’ younger brother (Sawyer Jones) and the twosome have to be locked up in a room inside the house. Thomas’ schoolteacher (Keri Russell), a child abuse survivor becomes concerned with the violent depictions in his drawings. Russell’s no-nonsense brother happens to be the local sheriff (Jesse Plemons), and he’s currently investigating a series of bizarre and brutal slayings. Rory Cochrane plays one of Plemons’ underlings, Amy Madigan is the useless school principal, whilst Grahame Greene is a Native American local who has a theory on who or what is doing the killing.

 

One of the more interesting and offbeat horror films in recent years, this 2021 film from Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”, “Out of the Furnace”, “Hostiles”) and his co-writers Nick Antosca (producers of TV’s “Chucky”) and C. Henry Chaisson (who comes from a background in shorts and TV) was produced by Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The Shape of Water”). Let the names Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toro be your guide here when choosing whether to watch the film or not. It’s unusual, dour, unsettling and uncompromising right to the very end of the film. Basically it’s a gory genre film involving child abuse and monsters (the monster being a Wendigo, for all you “X-Files” fans out there), so if that’s going to be a problem for you, it might be best to sit this one out. For me, I found it one of the better horror films I’ve seen in recent years, and unlike a lot of horror films these days here’s one that’s genuinely disturbing and not at all safe/formula. To date it’s Cooper’s best directorial effort, though I think the first half is a bit better than the second.

 

Cooper does a wonderfully effective job with the opening scene, a masterful display of darkness and framing/shot composition. He clearly knows what to show and what not to. There’s good in the second half too, though. The first good look at the monster in complete form about 80 minutes in is pretty unsettling. I never figured him for a horror guy, but Cooper really shows he’s got the stuff here even though much of the film is character/drama-based. He masterfully blends the fantastical with a blue-collar, real-world setting without it seeming jarring at all. That’s not at all easy. I also really liked the prickly brother-sister relationship between Jesse Plemons (who seems to be everywhere these days) and Keri Russell, the latter of whom has never been better. She has a nice, restrained weariness to her here. Her character has been through some shit and is about to see some more shit, too. As for flaws, there aren’t really any though Grahame Greene, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan are much better actors than the roles they’re given here.

 

A horror film that does something different isn’t to be sneezed at. Very effective dark fable in the Guillermo del Toro mould, but as directed by the man behind “Crazy Heart”. Well-acted, well-directed and shot, it’s a tough and bizarre film but a worthy one for a certain audience.

 

Rating: B-