''Antlers'' is a 2021
supernatural horror film
Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...
directed by
Scott Cooper, and stars
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series ''Felicity (TV series), Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans), ...
,
Jesse Plemons
Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a career breakthrough with his major role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subseque ...
, Jeremy T. Thomas,
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
,
Scott Haze
Scott Haze (born June 28, 1983) is an American actor and filmmaker.
Known for his role in the 2013 film, ''Child of God'', where he played the role of Lester Ballard, sleeping in a cave for months and losing 45 pounds for his role in the adaptat ...
,
Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane (born February 28, 1972) is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in '' Dazed and Confused'', Lucas in ''Empire Records'', Lee Schatz in ''Argo'', Freck in '' A Scanner Darkly'', and Tim Speedle in ''CSI: Miami''.
...
, and
Amy Madigan
Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film '' Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include '' Love Child'' (1982), ''Places ...
. The screenplay was adapted from
Nick Antosca
Nicholas J. Antosca (born January 23, 1983) is an American film and television writer, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and showrunner of the horror anthology television series '' Channel Zero'' (2016–2018). He also co-created and sh ...
's short story "The Quiet Boy". The film follows a school teacher as she suspects one of her students is suffering from personal problems in his home life, not knowing that the student is harboring an evil demon in his house.
The project was announced in July 2018 with Cooper attached to direct, and the cast joining the next month. Filming took place in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
in October and November 2018.
''Antlers'' premiered at Beyond Fest on October 11, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 29, 2021, by
Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...
, after being delayed twice from an April 2020 release date due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the cinematography, acting and the horror elements, but criticized the screenplay.
Plot
In the small town of Cispus Falls in central
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, Frank Weaver runs a
meth lab
A rolling meth lab is a transportable laboratory that is used to illegally produce methamphetamine.Staff writerMethamphetamine, meth-lab assessment and clean-up" ''Forensic Applications Consulting Technologies Inc.'' Retrieved on 2009-02-14. Ro ...
out of an inactive mine. While his 7-year-old son Aiden waits outside in his truck, Frank and an accomplice are attacked by an unseen creature.
Three weeks later, 12-year-old Lucas Weaver, Frank's eldest son and Aiden's older brother, spends his time roaming the town, collecting
roadkill
Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by drivers of motor vehicles on highways. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how it can be mi ...
and killing small animals before taking them home. Lucas's teacher, Julia Meadows, is alarmed by his strange behavior and frightening drawings, and attempts to bond with the troubled boy. She begins to suspect that Lucas is being abused and becomes determined to help him, spurred by her own experience of
childhood abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to ac ...
at the hands of her
mentally ill
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
alcoholic father. Since her father's recent suicide, she returned to Cispus Falls to be with her brother Paul, who is the local sheriff, and whom she feels guilty about abandoning when she was younger. Julia visits Lucas' rundown home and hears strange sounds.
A flashback shows Frank survived the attack, and set up a locked room in the attic after returning home with Aiden, who was also attacked, demanding that Lucas should keep them locked inside no matter what. Lucas is feeding his sickly, and now-ravenously feral father and brother with the animal carcasses he retrieves.
Half of the remains of Frank's accomplice are found in the woods by former sheriff Warren Stokes. Paul and Warren later discover the other part of Frank's accomplice in the mine along with a part of an
antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...
. Meanwhile, Julia pressures the school principal Ellen into paying Frank a visit. Ellen discovers the room where Frank and Aiden are locked up, which she unlocks and enters. Frank kills Ellen before antlers burst out of his body. Frank, now transformed into a savage antlered creature, kills Lucas' school bully Clint Owens when Lucas is harassed by the boy.
Ellen is reported missing and Julia visits the Weaver house, where she finds Ellen's car. The police arrive and discover Ellen's body along with Frank's, which is now a charred husk. Aiden is nowhere to be found. When Lucas returns home, he is taken to the hospital, where Julia and Paul are told he is severely malnourished, dehydrated, and shows physical signs of having been abused for years. Julia decides to let Lucas stay with her.
The next day, while Lucas recovers in the hospital, Julia and Paul pay Warren a visit and show him Lucas' drawings. Warren identifies the figure as the
wendigo
Wendigo () is a mythological creature or evil spirit originating from the folklore of Plains and Great Lakes Natives as well as some First Nations. It is based in and around the East Coast forests of Canada, the Great Plains region of the Uni ...
, a legendary
Algonquin
Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to:
Languages and peoples
*Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia
**Algonquin la ...
demon that appears as a ravenous, cannibalistic deer-like monster that passes from person to person. It can only be killed when it is weakest: as it is feeding and to extinguish its beating heart. Clint's body is discovered that night. Lucas is discharged and learns that Frank is dead. He tells Julia that Frank is coming for him, to take him down to the mine to be with Aiden.
The transformed Frank uses Aiden to lure Paul's fellow sheriff Dan out and kill him. Julia and Lucas hide while Paul is badly wounded. Lucas escapes to the mine and Julia and Paul follow, armed with a pistol. Inside, Julia discovers Lucas and Aiden, and sees that Frank has indeed become a demon, currently feasting on a dead
black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
. After a fight, she kills the wendigo-possessed Frank with Lucas' help. The wendigo spirit passes into Aiden and Julia stabs Aiden to death, seemingly ending the curse.
Sometime later, Paul and Julia discuss keeping Lucas with them for a while despite concerns he may become possessed as well. As Julia and Lucas leave, Paul begins to cough up a black bile, as Frank did when he was first possessed by the demon.
Cast
In addition, Sawyer Jones portrays Aiden Weaver.
Production
In July 2018, it was announced that
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...
would produce ''Antlers''.
The screenplay was adapted from
Nick Antosca
Nicholas J. Antosca (born January 23, 1983) is an American film and television writer, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and showrunner of the horror anthology television series '' Channel Zero'' (2016–2018). He also co-created and sh ...
's short story "The Quiet Boy", which was not published until January 2019 in ''
Guernica
Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...
'' magazine.
The initial announcement included
Scott Cooper as director, with
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series ''Felicity (TV series), Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans), ...
in negotiations to star, with filming to begin in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, by the fourth quarter of 2018.
[ In August 2018, ]Jesse Plemons
Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a career breakthrough with his major role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subseque ...
joined the cast. In October 2018, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, Amy Madigan
Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film '' Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include '' Love Child'' (1982), ''Places ...
, Scott Haze
Scott Haze (born June 28, 1983) is an American actor and filmmaker.
Known for his role in the 2013 film, ''Child of God'', where he played the role of Lester Ballard, sleeping in a cave for months and losing 45 pounds for his role in the adaptat ...
, and Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane (born February 28, 1972) is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in '' Dazed and Confused'', Lucas in ''Empire Records'', Lee Schatz in ''Argo'', Freck in '' A Scanner Darkly'', and Tim Speedle in ''CSI: Miami''.
...
joined the cast.
In August 2018, it was confirmed that principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
would begin on October 1, 2018, and finish on November 30, 2018. Exterior scenes were filmed in November 2018 in the town of Hope, British Columbia
Hope is a district municipality at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Hope is at the eastern end of both the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland region, and is at the southern end ...
, inland of the Greater Vancouver
Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" is roughly coterminous with the geographic area governed b ...
region, standing in for the Oregon town of the film, with other scenes filmed in Greater Vancouver's Port Moody
Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south a ...
, Langley Langley may refer to:
People
* Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name
* Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer
* Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...
, Squamish and Alouette Lake
Alouette Lake, originally Lillooet Lake and not to be confused with the lake of that name farther north, is a lake and reservoir in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the southeast foot of the mountain group known as the Go ...
.
Release
The Canada–US–Mexico co-production premiered at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on October 11, 2021. It was theatrically released in the United States on October 29, 2021.
The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 17, 2020, but was removed from the release calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. It was rescheduled to February 19, 2021, before being removed from the release calendar again.
''Antlers'' was released on digital download on December 21, 2021. This was followed by a Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
and DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
release on January 4, 2022, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
.
Reception
Box office
''Antlers '' grossed $10.6million in the United States and Canada, and $8.2million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.9million.
In the United States and Canada, ''Antlers'' was released in 2,800 theaters for its opening weekend, alongside wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...
s of ''Last Night in Soho
''Last Night in Soho'' is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright and co-written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns. It stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Terence St ...
'' and the expansion of ''The French Dispatch
''The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun'', or simply ''The French Dispatch'', is a 2021 American anthology comedy drama film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guin ...
''. It debuted with a domestic weekend total of $4.3million, finishing sixth at the box office.[ In its second weekend, the film dropped 54% to $2million and remained in the top ten for its first three weeks.][
]
Critical response
The website's critics consensus reads: "It struggles to find a successful balance between its genre and allegorical elements, but ''Antlers'' is sharp enough to recommend as a richly atmospheric creature feature." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 33 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Todd Gilchrist of ''TheWrap
''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman
Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
'' gave the film a mostly positive review, calling it "a handsome, meticulous, yet overly serious entry in a horror sub-genre explored too infrequently; Guillermo del Toro was right to choose Cooper, but what the film needs is more of del Toro's own exuberance to truly bring it to life." Linda Marric of ''The Jewish Chronicle
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'' gave the film a score of 3/5 stars, writing: "''Antlers'' is both dark in tone and aesthetically stunning to look at. Cooper does a fantastic job in creating a suitably dark and disturbing atmosphere to go with the film's decidedly dark body horror narrative", but added that it "eventually leans a little too heavily on jarringly obvious allegories about drug addiction and child abuse, losing all the things it had built on in the process". Jake Wilson of ''The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' gave the film 3/5 stars, describing it as "murky but interesting" and writing that it "is a lot less goofy than you'd expect from a horror movie called ''Antlers'', certainly less goofy than it would have been if its producer Guillermo del Toro had directed it himself". John DeFore of ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote that the film was "thoroughly successful both as icky art house horror and as an allegory of generational trauma" and praised Jeremy T. Thomas' performance. Brian Lowry of CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
wrote: "The net effect isn't necessarily bad assuming that expectations are modest, and there's something to be said for a more understated, small-scale approach to horror that doesn't confuse body count with scares."
Eric Eisenberg of ''CinemaBlend
Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...
'' gave the film a 2.5/5 star rating, saying in a mixed review, "Given its promise and everything it does right, ''Antlers'' winds up being a frustrating experience." Meagan Navarro, writing for ''Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...
'', also gave the film 2.5/5 stars and said that Cooper takes it too seriously, putting the emotional trauma at the forefront and saving the horror for the finale. She labelled the film a "monologue". Kevin Maher
Kevin Andrew Maher (born 17 October 1976) is a former professional footballer and coach who played as a midfielder. He is head coach of National League side Southend United. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland internationall ...
of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "A sterling performance from Keri Russell is wasted on this po-faced yet inherently silly horror film about a mutant killer humanoid stag monster." Benjamin Lee of ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' also gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "There's probably a semi-decent creature feature here and maybe, with a hefty amount of redrafting, a semi-decent human drama but as it stands it fails at both, a satisfying, coherent film buried underneath copious amounts of animal guts." Clarisse Loughrey of ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "There are measured performances here by both Russell and Plemons, two unfailingly talented actors, and a host of well-crafted practical effects... But all the trickery in the world can't conceal how inauthentic ''Antlers'' feels at heart." Barry Hertz of ''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' wrote: "''Antlers'' is a gross film... But the film's ''eeeeeghghgh'' quality isn't limited to its on-screen viscera – Antler's gross-ness extends to its screenplay's slop-bucket collection of overused but underdeveloped themes, and a visual style that cough-gurgles poverty-porn fetishism." Anna Bogutskaya said on BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
: "It's really egregious, I think, how it just pulls out First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
mythologies, like the mythology of the Wendigo, and the only First Nations actor that they cast in the film, Graham Greene, basically just delivers a bunch of spooky exposition and then disappears."
References
External links
*
*
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{{Scott Cooper
2021 horror thriller films
2020s American films
2020s Canadian films
2020s English-language films
2020s Mexican films
2020s monster movies
2020s supernatural horror films
American horror thriller films
American monster movies
American supernatural thriller films
American supernatural horror films
Demons in film
English-language Canadian films
English-language Mexican films
Canadian horror thriller films
Canadian monster movies
Canadian supernatural horror films
Films about cannibalism
Films about curses
Films about spirit possession
Films based on American short stories
Films directed by Scott Cooper
Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films produced by Guillermo del Toro
Films produced by David S. Goyer
Films scored by Javier Navarrete
Films set in Oregon
Films shot in Vancouver
Mexican horror thriller films
Mexican monster movies
Mexican supernatural horror films
Searchlight Pictures films
TSG Entertainment films
Wendigos in popular culture