Antlers
directed by Scott Cooper
directed by Scott Cooper
This somber horror movie was directed by Scott Cooper, who also directed the gangster flick Black Mass, which as I wrote at the time felt more like a horror movie than a crime drama.
Too often these days, if you think of horror movies, you will think of nubile coeds who are slaughtered in increasingly inventive ways, often after helpfully stripping down to bra and panties or even less. There is a faceoff between the monster and final girl who is usually but not always, not as attractive or as overtly sexual as the sex crazed women (and men) who have died before.
This young woman, perhaps with the assistance of some "loser" or at least someone who is non-sexual because of age or race reasons, will overcome the monster or escape it to hopefully set up some profitable sequels. It's a formula. I don't like that formula but people wouldn't use it if it didn't work.
Antlers does not use that formula. So that was good. I could argue that it used a common different formula in which everything is shot under a gray/blue filter and supernatural evil and more prosaic human evil are interwoven.
For more direct (and much better) invocations of the Wendigo monster I would recommend the film Ravenous or Stephen King's book or movie Pet Sematary.
Antlers is more interested in using the supernatural as a metaphor for the everyday human evils that too many of us suffer. It's a quiet slow moving film that doesn't reveal much until the end but still has jump scares and occasional shocking gore.
Julia Meadows (Keri Russell) is a middle school teacher who has moved back to her Oregon hometown to live with her younger brother Paul (Jesse Plemons) who is now the town sheriff. Their father just passed away, an event that neither of the siblings mourns. They struggle to talk about it. It becomes evident through flashbacks and Julia's and Paul's extreme sensitivity and guilt that their father molested Julia and possibly Paul as well for good measure.
Julia left as soon as possible and stayed away for years. Julia thinks she has a spidey-sense for abused children.
Julia's quick to notice that her student Lucas Weaver (Jeremy T. Thomas) appears malnourished, is bullied, walks to and from school, and creates very disturbing dark stories and drawings. Following Lucas Julia sees him pick up roadkill and set traps for animals.
Worried about this, and the fact that she hasn't seen Lucas's father Frank (Scott Haze) or brother Aiden (Sawyer Jones) Julia agitates to remove Luca from his home, over the initial skepticism of her brother Paul. Paul changes his tune after some strangeness in the woods. The police visit the Weaver home and discover some things, but they don't find Frank or Aiden. Julia takes temporary custody of Lucas. Julia thinks all's well that ends well.
However, when Paul and Julia share Lucas's drawings with the Native American previous sheriff (Graham Greene) he tells them some things that neither sibling believes. But when another child's body is discovered the siblings must broaden their ideas of reality.
The film's pacing was off. It couldn't pick the most important element, traditional horror, body horror, familial alienation and abuse, loneliness, or environmental protection. The settings, both outdoors and indoors, were suitably creepy. Your mileage may vary considerably.
