Review: ‘Antlers’ Explores Angry Spirits in Small Town America

Antlers is out now from 20th Century Studios Reader Beware Spoilers Ahead!

Trauma, addiction, and abuse, are reoccurring themes in the horror genre. Often, used as a metaphor for an internal struggle or past that hasn’t fully been dealt with or healed from. With Antlers, director Scott Cooper (Hostiles) and producer Guillermo Del Toro (Nightmare Alley) use legends of Native American lore and weave it into their tale of grief and redemption to create one of the more unnerving genre entries in recent memory.

An adaptation of Nick Antosca’s (co-wrote the screenplay) genuinely frightening short story “The Quiet Boy.” Antlers stars Keri Russell (Dark Skies), Jesse Plemons (Jungle Cruise), Jeremy T. Thomas (“The Righteous Gemstones”), and Graham Greene (Green Mile). 

Frank Weaver (Scott Haze) and his “colleague” use the deactivated mining tunnels as a meth lab in a former Oregon coal-mining town that has clearly seen better days. When they are viciously attacked by something lurking in the darkness, only Frank manages to survive but at what cost. 

Julia Meadows (Russell) has returned to her childhood home after being gone for 20 years and doesn’t recognize the town of Cispus Falls she once knew. Now living with her brother Paul (Plemons), the town’s de facto sheriff, she has taken a new teaching role and is hopeful the change will do her well. After coming across some disturbing drawings by one of her students, Lucas Weaver (Thomas), she recognizes the images as a cry for help as she is still traumatized by the abuse she suffered. A notion repeatedly played as being in her old house awakens many repressed memories. 

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Meanwhile, Sherriff Meadows and his deputy (Rory Cochrane) are trying to make sense of the mutilated corpses being discovered around town. Believing it to be animal attacks, it isn’t until former sheriff Stokes (Graham Greene) has a different theory about why the bodies are piling up and ancestral spirits are angry. The seed of doubt is planted that something more supernatural is at hand.  

Julie takes it upon herself to take the young boy under her wing and get him the help he needs. She can’t imagine the horrors occurring behind the multi-padlocked door, and the lengths young Lucas is taking to keep his family’s skeletons secure for fear of what they might do once loose.

Antlers is a heavy film, largely dealing with childhood abuse and the scars it can leave. Themes of economic collapse and the desolation of small-town America, addiction, and the devastation of the environment by industry are prevalent throughout the entire narrative, and that’s before you add a monster eating townsfolk. It’s a lot to process, and realistically a lot of it is just above the surface without really being examined to impact the overall theme of the movie. 

Keri Russell gives a very layered performance that captures the PTSD of an abuse survivor and the daily struggle of substance abuse. You buy her obsession entirely with trying to save this boy from suffering like she did. Even the heroic and heartbreaking moments are genuine because of her portrayal. Jesse Plemons is a master at playing the everyman just trying to get by. Not having a lot to say, when he speaks, it’s to the point, and barbs directed towards Julia have so much under the surface due to his body language and tone. He portrays an heir of authority even though he knows he’s out of his league with the investigations so well. 

Jeremy T. Thomas it’s frightening at how good he is. Carrying the world’s weight through each scene, one could get exhaustion from just a look into his eyes. You want to take this boy in and feed him a home cooked meal and give him a hug. Absolutely heart-wrenching performance, strength, and depth you rarely see with child actors. 

The Wendigo is a creature that has been referenced or portrayed in television and movies like Ravenous, Dark was the Night, Supernatural, and even elements of Pet Semetary, to name a few, but never like this. This transformation feels more like cancer, taking hold, changing the body shape and personality until there is nothing left.

One could also see it as a metaphor for addiction, but in this case, it’s meat that makes you hungrier the more you consume and our darkest impulses that change a person into a completely different being. The creature design is some of the best I’ve seen since the Ritual. The reveal is worth the wait, mostly kept out of focus and in shadow until the end, and it sticks with you long after the credits roll.

This is a haunted movie, with every character, building, and the forest feel like it’s haunted by past tragedies and successes. Cooper provokes the exact feeling he wants from his film, and the subject matter, as heavy as it may be, is handled with genuine empathy by performers at the top of their craft. Suspenseful and gory, with a mystery/ investigation aspect as well, Antlers will draw you in, and you’ll want to delve deeper into the darkness to see this one out. 3/5

★★★

You can check out the trailer and poster for Antlers below and the film is out now from 20th Century Studios. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for all things horror, sci-fi and more.