In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher and her sheriff brother become embroiled with her enigmatic student, whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them.
Chuck says:
With such intimate, personal dramas like “Crazy Heart” and “Out of the Furnace” on his resume, a horror film would seem like an odd choice for director Scott Cooper to take on. But there’s more than meets the eye in his latest feature “Antlers,” an effective chiller that gets a great deal of mileage out of the Native American legend of the Wendigo and the insecurities of its main characters. Throw in a community ravaged by an economic downturn as well as rampant meth use and you have a prime situation in which all sorts of metaphorical horrors can emerge.
Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons are Julia and Paul Meadows, siblings who are each carrying their own burdens. A recovering alcoholic, she’s a middle school teacher who comes to recognize signs of abuse where her student Lucas (Jeremy Thomas) is concerned. Having been a victim of child abuse herself, she does her best to take the boy under her wing and protect him as best she can. Paul, the local sheriff, suffers quietly with the prolonged effects of the troubled childhood he and his sister shared, resigned to muddle through each day, lacking any sense of confidence where his job is concerned. He’s not the man to get to the bottom of who – or what- is responsible for the many dismembered bodies that have been found in the forest surrounding the town.
Much like Cooper’s “Out of the Furnace,” the setting and its impact on its characters is a key aspect as to what makes them tick, or more accurately, stumble. Perpetually overcast and oppressively drab, the palette employed by cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister seems to consist only of gradations of gray, the environment of the Northwest accentuated for maximum creepy effect. The lack of employment and desperation of the populace is palpable and it’s no wonder that it manifests itself into the thing that’s causing all the carnage.
At its core though, the film is an examination of child abuse and its long-term effects. Julia and Paul continue to shoulder the burden of their father’s cruelty, each having reacted differently to the violence in their childhood home. It’s no surprise Julia’s seeking some sort of redemption by coming to Lucas’ aid, though she’s so blinded by this she fails to see the futility of her actions. And as far as her student is concerned, he’s been forced to take on responsibilities no adult, let alone a child, should have to contend with. In his examination of domestic crime and its repercussions, Cooper is unflinching in the gaze he provides.
As for the monster in question, genre fans will not be disappointed by the carnage it creates. Though the creature initially looks rather unconvincing, once we get the big reveal, it proves effective, though the requisite action scenes do detract from the film’s theme. While the movie is firmly in Cooper’s wheelhouse thematically, there’s no question that producer Guillermo del Toro’s (“The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) influence is at play as well, what with the horroric nature of the tale and a child protagonist being the key to unlocking the mystery at its core.
Without question, the scares “Antlers” contains will rattle you in the moment, but it’s the all-too-real subtext that sticks. Often the monsters we carry inside that we allow to continuously haunt us are the ones that are the hardest to face.
3 1/2 Stars
