3 Short Paragraphs: Antlers

2021, Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) -- download

I started writing about this movie a week ago, and as often happens, any thread of a post trickled off because I remember very little about the movie. Or more precisely, I remember very little of what I want to SAY about the movie. I do remember the earlier buzz around it, with Guillermo del Toro onboard to Produce. I remember it was a Pacific North West / wendigo horror story, that suffered COVID related delays, only to end up with lackluster reviews. And rather than waiting for October, we used it to fill in yet another click click click night.

But what really stands out is how this is a bleak looking movie full of bleak settings and people. It's a dark, filthy, dying town full of tired people - the perfect horror movie setting.  It begins with an addict's kid, sitting in his dad's truck while the meth cooker and his brother (fav Canadian supporting actor 93, Michael Eklund) go deeper into an abandoned mine to cook, but are torn apart by ... something from deeper in the mine. Does the child escape? We don't know, but we soon meet his brother who is badly hiding the fact he is alone from his school teacher (Keri Russel, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), who sticks her nose into his life, something people in this town just don't do. She has her own issues, having returned to the town where her father abused her, after having run away, leaving behind her little brother. But she's back to live in the same house, to face the resentment and guilt, to escape something, to focus her mind on something.... good?

Of course, the wendigo has taken the meth cooker and his son, more of an infection than a possession, constantly hungry, locked in their house by the older brother/son, fed road kill to keep the monster at bay. Until the teacher disturbs things. Creature features are my thing, and the practical mixed with CGI effects of the monster were impressive. The lore of an indigenous American creature is lightly updated, and given some impressive visuals, especially the titular massive set of antlers. The plot is rather forgettable, mundane and should have been cooked longer, but all in all, it settled somewhere between the "that was alright" and the usual "meh" of the October viewings. Usually, all it takes is a small thing standing out, a key feature or character or setting element, for it to be raised higher in my mind, but even the memorably bleak town was not fleshed out enough -- I needed it to have a ... darker past to explain this depression that lingered on it, not just typical dying middle America.