Released in 2021, Antlers is a bit of a hidden gem when it comes to creature feature horror movies. Directed by Scott Cooper who brought us movies like Crazy Heart, Black Mass, and last year’s The Pale Blue Eye. This is a fun horror movie that may not win any awards, but I certainly enjoyed my time with it.
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The Movie Review
If I am being honest it was the fact that Jesse Plemons was in the movie that drew me to this in the first place. Seeing him in a horror was something I was very interested in. However, due to the pandemic, its release was messed around with and I ended up having to watch this digitally as it never came to my local theatre.
I love the Oregon setting that the movie has, I always love a horror that is set in a woodland-style place. Julia Meadows is a school teacher who notices that there is something very wrong with a student called, Lucas. She suspects some kind of abuse is going on and she manages to talk the principal into checking out.
We do get a bit of backstory with Julia as her brother is a man called Paul and he is the sheriff. They had a troubled and abusive childhood and she has just moved back here after her father passed. Now, when they get to Lucas’s house to try and see his father, nothing could prepare them for what they find.
It is like a scene from a slasher movie. However, her suspicions that Lucas’s father is an abuser are only half right. You see, Lucas’s father and his younger brother were possessed by something evil in the woods and it has taken hold of them and is making them feral-like monsters!
They find out that this is a Wendigo! I love how Wendigos are kind of in fashion now and more horror movies are using them. The way the Wendigo is handled in this movie and the lore behind it is really cool. However, I wish it explained a bit more or gave us some more flashbacks as I was really interested in this kind of stuff.
Basically, this is more like a curse that will pass from person to person and Julia, Paul, and Lucas are trying to get rid of it. The movie looks fantastic, it is very dark, but not in a so-dark-it-is-impossible-to-see kind of way like some movies make the mistake of doing. It is dark, but you can still see everything and it looks great.
I thought that Antlers was a fun creature feature horror movie. It comes in at a little over 90 minutes and I would have liked it to last a little longer so we got a bit more back story. I also thought that the ending was very predictable, to be honest with you. While not the greatest horror movie I have ever seen, I would probably watch this again and if they make a sequel, I would be sure to check it out.
