The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+
I went into Antlers expecting a generic monster movie. I was not expecting a serious drama about child abuse that also happened to include a creature from Native American folklore. Perhaps I should have known better since this is from the director of Black Mass and Hostiles, but I was expecting something more akin to The Relic than a movie depicting Will Hunting’s childhood before he got a job as a janitor at MIT. As such, I won’t call Antlers a bad movie, but it’s not exactly a crowd-pleasing horror flick either.
Keri Russell stars as Julia, an elementary school teacher in a small town in Oregon. Julia starts to notice that Lucas, one of her students, is starting to show signs of abuse that she recognizes because she herself was abused by her father as a child. An investigation reveals what would have been obvious to a trained social worker: Lucas’ meth-cooking father and his younger brother have been infected by the mythical wendigo, a killer spirit that looks like a moose that’s auditioning to be the mascot for a black metal band. Lucas is keeping those two locked in his attic and feeding them roadkill while the wendigo gradually takes control of them, leaving us to ponder the cyclical and virus-like nature of abuse as a social disease. Are we having fun yet?
To be fair, Antlers is a well-made film. Director Scott Cooper is a bit hit-or-miss for me and his films are about as much fun as a nun at an orgy, but the man is competent and can certainly handle dark material. The film is also well-acted, with Keri Russell and the young Jeremy Thomas worthy of particular mention. Whenever a child actor doesn’t annoy the shit out of me, I know that they are truly an emerging talent and Thomas fits that bill and brings a heavy dose to gravitas and sadness to the role of Lucas. The monster effects aren’t particularly inspired, but they are well-done. On a technical level, there is nothing particularly wrong with Antlers.
However, that didn’t stop me from checking my watch about a dozen times throughout the film’s running time. If you are expecting a fun monster movie, then Antlers can be an absolute drag to sit through. Antlers reminds me a bit of 2012’s underrated The Tall Man starring Jessica Biel. Almost nobody has seen that movie (which makes me reconsider making the comparison, but I’m committed at this point), but it also deals with child abuse and abductions under the guise of being about a local supernatural legend. I won’t ruin the twist of that film in case somebody actually watches it, but its use of those topics ultimately makes sense in the context of the story. There is no twist here. It really is about the wendigo and the film struggles to reconcile its moral ambitions with its own material. At times, it seems almost embarrassed to admit that it’s a monster movie. Child abuse is a serious issue that warrants attention in film, but so is human trafficking and an abominable snowman movie wouldn’t be the proper vehicle for tackling the issue.
The tone is ultimately the make-or-break element here and one must approach the film with the proper mindset. If you expect to have a good time, then I assure you that you won’t. From the very first frame, Antlers takes itself very seriously. The tone is almost oppressively dark and the characters are certainly sympathetic, but they aren’t the kind of people that you want to get a beer with. Rather, they are the kind of people that you text periodically just to make sure that they are hanging in there. I know that I’m harping on this point, but the whole thing is just too morose for a movie about the goddamn wendigo.
You may have noticed that I’ve said little about the monster itself, or even about the film’s basic merit as a horror movie. That’s because those elements all feel secondary. Antlers isn’t particularly scary. Well, okay, its scary if you consider the implications about how bureaucratic red tape can allow abuse to continue. But it’s not particularly scary as a horror film. There are only a couple of kills (one is of the hilarious “why the fuck are you going in there?” variety) and the monster itself doesn’t get much screen time until the finale. The traditional horror elements, while not poorly done in fleeting moments, seem to be a reluctant inclusion.
This is a movie that I don’t particularly like, but I can appreciate its dramatic ambition and could understand if others find greater merit in it. I prefer my horror films to be more fun and just couldn’t get into the seriousness of the whole thing. Antlers is a serious drama that happens to have a monster in it. If that sounds like your thing, then enjoy. Those looking for a fun fright flick should avoid it.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlers_(film)#/media/File:Antlers_poster.jpg
