The literal monster is as horrifying as the allegorical monster it’s trying to stand for. And it’s pretty stomach-churning.
Laden with doom, viscera and its own seriousness, Antlers is a sometimes effective, sometimes frustrating horror movie.
Directed by filmmaker Scott Cooper and produced by the cinematic heir to the traditions of Grand Guignol, Guillermo del Toro, Antlers falls victim to its own ambitions.
It’s a classic case of trying to do too much – or to be too much, cramming in what appears to be multiple allegories when one would’ve been much punchier.
It dilutes its own power by suggesting that the creature feature is standing in for everything from child abuse and the opioid crisis to environmental degradation and the modern disconnection with nature.
Starring Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons and child actor Jeremy T. Thomas, the story is set in a small town in Oregon, sheathed in grey fog and an atmosphere of hopelessness.
Julia (Russell) is a schoolteacher who recently returned to her childhood home, sharing it with her younger brother Paul (Plemons), who’s the town’s recently elected sheriff.
Julia is haunted by the memories of the house, the site of traumatic childhood abuse at the hands of her now-dead father. She and Paul also have a strained relationship after she took off as a teen, leaving him to their dad.
At school, she notices one of her students, Lucas (Thomas), has become increasingly withdrawn. She becomes convinced his sketches of an antlered monster with menacing red eyes reveal abuse at the hands of Lucas’ father, a local deadbeat named Frank (Scott Haze).
What those pictures actually represent is far more literal. And then a ravaged human body is found in the woods.
Antlers is upfront about whether or not its monster is real – the opening sequence is a bloody confrontation shot handsomely in flashes and shadows. What lurks in those shadows is going to rip you apart.
The antlered beast, when revealed in full view, is a grotesque concoction that will inspire at least a wince.
At its best, Antlers works as a suspenseful horror with tight, tense sequences of characters slowly approaching what could be their end. And it often looks great, the eerie atmosphere of its woodland setting, while silhouettes are elegantly framed within passageways, as if to hint at the terror of what lies between our world and another.
Cooper (Crazy Heart, Hostiles) is an accomplished drama director dipping for the first time his toe into the horror genre, which could explain why he and co-screenwriters C. Henry Chaisson and Nick Antosca have folded in so many other story elements into Antlers.
And while some of those dramatic character beats, including Julia projecting her own past traumas onto Lucas’ very present ones, are engaging, there’s a gulf between what it’s aiming for and what it achieves.
The film is based on a short story by Antosca and the aspect of Julia’s own childhood abuse was added for the movie adaptation. It’s an unfocused, clumsily executed metaphor, especially given how much else the movie throws at you in trying to place the monster’s existence within a Native American mythology that warns of modern ills.
In an early scene, Julia is talking to her class about myths, folk stories and fairytales, of how Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a parable for not taking what doesn’t belong to you.
While it has some effective scares and pulsating scenes, it’s not clear what Antlers is really about.
Rating: 3/5
Antlers is in cinemas from Thursday, October 28
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2021-10-26 05:33:22Z
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