Antlers (2021)

In a quiet town in rural Oregon, a troubled middle-school teacher and her sheriff brother investigate a series of brutally murdered people only to be led to the awakening of an ancient creature.

Drama, horror, and mystery in a perfect balance! I’ve been waiting for this film for a long time! Three years, to be precise! With Scott Cooper behind the camera – Crazy Heart (2009), Out of the Furnace (2013), Black Mass (2015), Hostiles (2017) – Keri Russell, and Jesse Plemons in front of the camera, and, among others, David S. Goyer and Guillermo Del Toro wearing the producers’ hat, how could I not? And the waiting was well worth it! It’s a case where Hollywood defies its own (uptight) rules, throws the textbook away, and finally gets it right. There is no fast-paced editing that confuses, no cardboard cut-out characters, and no unnecessary jump-scares to compensate for the lack of narrative.

Antlers is the horror you must watch to appreciate the slow-burn character and story development that only aims to stimulate your emotions and not undermine your intelligence. Goyer is a master of thrill (most of his DC work excluded), Del Toro is a master of storytelling, and Russell and Plemons are excellent actors. The result is precisely what you would hope for. Admittedly, I found the ending, even though not anticlimactic… a bit flat! It quickly resolved a terrifying build-up. I had high hopes it amounted to something as visceral as the first and second acts up to that point – pun intended. But don’t let that stand in your way.

Based on the short story “The Quiet Boy” by Nick Antosca, Antlers is the kind of film where the plot relies on the subplot to support it. The personal, unspeakable drama supports the horror unleashed onto these people, and, even though one can exist without the other as separate entities, together they combine forces, pin you down, and cut your breath with the element of unpredictability and the uncertainty of who is worse: mythical, monstrous forces… or us…

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