The film Antlers is one of the many horror films to premiere this October, Halloween obliges. A certain prestige makes it stand out, however, since it was produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) And directed by Scott Cooper, whose Crazy Heart won Jeff Bridges an Oscar. Beautiful parent. Added to this is a host of seasoned performers. In short, all we wanted to do was love, and be afraid.
Unfortunately, Antlers fails on both fronts despite the valiant efforts of said cast.
Camped in an unemployed mining town in Oregon, the plot is divided between two protagonists with linked destinies. First there is little Lucas, whose father, a methamphetamine maker, was attacked by a mysterious creature in a condemned mine tunnel, and who has since lived captive in the family home.
Left to himself, Lucas feeds his father without failing carcasses while helplessly witnessing the latter’s slow metamorphosis. Tragically, her little brother Aiden is afflicted with the same strange ailment.
At the same time, we follow Julia, a teacher at the local primary school. Lucas is one of his students. Assaulted by her father in the past, Julia believes she recognizes signs of abuse in Lucas. The more she investigates, the more convinced she is that something is wrong with the child’s home. In vain, she tries to persuade her director and her sheriff brother to investigate.
Good atmosphere
Antlers takes on its account the figure of the windigo, monster or spirit of the malicious forest developed in the mythology of the First Nations. The variation itself is interesting and gives rise to good horror effects, with homage to a famous shot from the film. The Company of Wolves (The company of wolves, 1984).
The film is, for the account, not devoid of qualities. The atmosphere of a small semi-industrial, semi-rural community is admirably evoked. This, in large part thanks to the ability of cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister (A Quiet Passion) to forge disturbing atmospheres in terms of light.
Keri Russell (Julia) and the young Jeremy T. Thomas (Lucas) are also excellent: invested, inhabited … Talented partners like Jesse Plemons, Amy Madigan, and especially Graham Greene, which we reduce more or less to the cliché of Native people on duty while explaining to whites what windigo is, however, are underutilized.
The main problem lies in the scenario, which turns out to be both too ambitious on the meaning side, and too lazy on the construction side. That is to say, we are trying to make windigo a kind of symbol of the economic crisis, the decimated family of Lucas becoming a microcosm of America. It was in itself a good idea. And that was enough.
But here we add a layer, the windigo also imposing itself as a representation of the inner demons that gnaw Julia. Quickly, the film does not know where to turn and “gets stuck” in its metaphors.
Endemic stupidity
As for the story that unfolds against this muddled backdrop, and here we touch on the narrative laziness mentioned, it is based almost exclusively on startling developments. Fact, Antlers suffers from what you might call “stupid behavior syndrome”. Which syndrome afflicts many characters in horror films (the criticism is formulated by someone who adores fear).
So we are repeatedly entitled to characters who not only take unnecessary risks, but act contrary to the most basic common sense. Take this future victim who goes, obviously alone, to Lucas’ place knowing that a violent adult may be there. The character arrives in front of the dilapidated property, knocks on the door, does not get an answer, but enters nonetheless. He grimaces at the pestilential smell, but does not turn on his heels or call the authorities any more. Hearing suspicious noises, he still does not turn back … Until the inevitable face-to-face.
The horror sequences are all based on this kind of stubborn diligence with which the characters throw themselves into the mouths of the wolf one after the other. It becomes ridiculous, and it is the suspense that toasts. Tension and stupidity go hand in hand.