Antlers (2021)
Directed by Scott Cooper
A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, discover a young student is harbouring a dangerous secret that could have frightening consequences.
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8 films that influenced Antlers
What critics say influenced Antlers
But Cooper might have benefited from borrowing some of the sheer sense of fun and shameless fascination del Toro brings to telling fantastical, frightening tales such as "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Devil's Backbone."
We see a bit less of the wendigo than we’ve seen of some other creatures in del Toro films — you’ll likely remember him as a mess of horns moving through shadows, not in the detailed way one recalls the Faun or the Pale Man of Pan’s Labyrinth — and in important ways the beast is scariest before it sprouts those horns: Scott Haze, playing Lucas’ father before he has fully transformed, is monstrous and pathetic but still capable of commanding his son’s loyalty.
Films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth similarly used ghosts and fantastical creatures to examine concepts such as abandonment and war.
Well shot in dreary, small town muteness by Florian Hoffmeister ( A Quiet Passion , 2016) and just the right kind of brooding score from Javier Navarrete ( Pan’s Labyrinth , 2006) allow for a properly set stage, but ultimately both the title and so-so denouement make Antlers feel like something we would have seen in the “Masters of Horror” series from the mid-2000s (especially since John Landis had an entry in the series called “Deer Woman”).
Produced by monster fetishist Guillermo del Toro ( Pan’s Labyrinth , The Shape of Wate r) but directed by Scott Cooper ( Crazy Heart ), the mood is overly gloomy and lacking del Toro’s signature sparkle.
The Oscar-nominated Spanish composer who provided aural chills for Guillermo del Toro’s “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” does it again, setting the mood for the dark thriller.
An inescapable itchiness starts to creep into virtually every scene around the second act, a restless sensation that cannot be alleviated by gnarly nods to genre classics like My Bloody Valentine (1981), The Thing (1982), and Hellraiser (1987).
The endangered children in “Antlers” will remind many of the sisters in Andy Muschietti’s 2013 entry “Mama,” another supernatural-based film produced by del Toro.
Similar in tone and nature to Andy Muschietti’s 2013 supernatural scarer Mama , another painting with the del Toro stroke, this film largely avoids cheap jump scares and flowing blood in favour of something more psychological; that’s not to say this doesn’t have its share of violent moments, it just doesn’t rely on them to maintain its horrific personality.
A mediocre horror flick from some pretty capable sorts – it’s directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart,” “Black Mass”) and produced by Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim,” “The Shape of Water”).
Also, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro is credited as one of the film's producers (full-on producer, not executive producer), who won his Oscars for "The Shape of Water," another Searchlight title.
One of many 2020 titles that saw its original release delayed due to the pandemic, and one of the few that held its nerve and opted out of a streaming alternative, Antlers , from director Scott Cooper ( Crazy Heart , Black Mass ) and producer Guillermo del Toro ( Pan’s Labyrinth , The Shape of Water ), proves its bold mentality weaves alongside its narrative, tackling trauma, neglect, and abuse in the guise of a fantastical-leaning horror film.
But, then again, the film’s creature designed by Guy Davis (“The Shape of Water”) is the scariest screen wendigo thus far.
Del Toro, director of Oscar's Best Picture "The Shape of Water" and other beastly stories, may be a producer on the atmospheric folk tale "Antlers," but the directorial chores fall to Scott Cooper.
Also likely deserving of some credit is del Toro, the director of films that include the acclaimed 2006 work “Pan’s Labyrinth” and 2017 Academy Award winner “The Shape of Water.”
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Mucho más cercana a la visión de Scott Derrickson de terror psicológico e imágenes asfixiantes (como en Sinister ) que de los jumpscares baratos de James Wan, la visión de Cooper lleva a Antlers (Espíritus oscuros) a un lugar peculiar dentro de la producción más comercial de horror hollywoodense.
I’m not asking for Aaron Sorkin sharpness here, but Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar , or Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook , are great examples of dialogue done right in psycho-horror features.
Horrors as diverse as Doctor Sleep (2019), Midsommar (2019), and Halloween (2018) have approached the idea in different ways and with varying success, and now one more horror movie can be added to the list.
When looking a little outside the mainstream genre films of the last few years, fans are quick to point out more unconventional takes on horror, highlighting films like Get Out , Midsommar , or The Lighthouse .
Ranking up there with the most disturbing horror movies to be found across the globe – Martyrs, A Serbian Film and Inside – Antlers pushes the envelope to the edge, proving Cooper a dedicated student of the French New Extremity movement and eliciting in this viewer some of the most visceral reactions I’ve had during a horror movie throughout my long tenure watching exactly these kinds of films.
Como The Invisible Man de Leigh Whannel, la cinta de Cooper quiere introducir vívidos problemas sociales en el panorama de la cartelera comercial veraniega.