Antlers (2021) is a supernatural horror film directed by Scott Cooper and starring Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons. Below is my review of Antlers (2021) movie review
The movie follows a young kid who hides an entity at home. One of his teachers gets involved when she suspects he is troubled. Their relationship is explored and it feels like it’s taking a long time before anything comes out of it. However, the creature part of the story is also present but it feels like it took a back seat to the actual human side of it all. While you shouldn’t right away reveal the creature, it still felt like it dragged on for way too long.
This is a shame since the creature is practical and looks fantastic. With so many movies coming out and being CGI, this film pulled all the stops to help it stand out. The creature, often referred to as Wendigo, is a malevolent evil spirit who often has human-like characteristics. In this movie it is depicted as a giant animal with human skin draped over his face. The director went through numerous sketches to make the creature unique while still being respectful to the Algonquian folklore. In the behind the scenes that can be found on youtube, we can see the painstaking effort the friector went into to depict the creature as menacing and completely relentless when attacking humans.
The dialogue itself is nothing special. Most of it is between the two main characters and the rest is between the boy and his teacher. There are also clues that the main characters had troubled past too but this is not explored a lot. It is sprinkled throughout the movie with few kills here and there thrown in to keep us entertained. The kills are brutal but there seems to be a lack of a lot of them. Not a lot of them are onscreen kills which is a shame as the creature itself leaves a trail of mangled bodies. In the end, the story of Wendigo was not explored as much as I hoped it would be.
The ending confrontation is also short and not as tense as one hoped it would be. There was not enough build up for it and the main character rose up to become a hero in no time. This is not something to ruin your movie experience but it helps if we have more developed characters so we can be behind them as they overcome their problems. Also, for a creature that is painted as strong and ruthless, one can’t help but think it would take a lot to kill it. Well…this movie certainly didn’t explore that area as much as I hoped.
In the end the movie is shot beautifully. It plays a lot with shadows and has some great tense scenes throughout. It also has some fantastic creature effects that should have been shown on screen for much longer. The look of the creature was unique which leaves the audience questioning why not show it more. The characters were not as flashed out as they should be. The two main characters were left to carry the story while the creature story was left to lurk in the background. A lot of details about the boy and his father are vague and don’t have enough “meat on the bone”. Still, this movie is a big recommend from me as it is unique and still worth a watch.
Thanks for reading my Antlers (2021) movie review
