Antlers

Folklore As An Afterthought

Brittany

Antlers is a movie I’ve been looking forward to since I first heard about it in early 2020.  When it was finally released I was very excited to finally see it.  I think I built this movie up in my mind to be really great and that might play into why I felt it was a bit lackluster.  I feel like they were trying to use the Wendigo as a metaphor for abuse and addiction, but it just felt all over the place.  The legend is something that has been really twisted over the years and while I know the antlers have long been a defining feature, this is not present in the original folklore.  

Obviously based on the title I didn't think we were going to get much of the original folklore, but there was a chance to insert that when the legend is talked about.  The talk about it is very brief and really felt like it was just being glossed over, which bothered me.  The actual design of the Wendigo was good though, which I’m sure was helped by Guillermo del Toro’s presence.  The acting is also top notch, especially by Jeremy T. Thomas who plays Lucas Weaver.  That said though, the biggest fault is still with the plot itself.  This movie didn't really know what it wanted to be, was is trying to talk about the folklore, use the legend as a metaphor, focus on family issues, a monster story, a possession story or something else?  

I’ve read “The Quiet Boy”; Nick Antosca’s short story which this film is based on and this is one of the many times that the book, or in this case, short story, is better than the movie.  Without spoiling anything, while the father and brother are described as having antlers, it’s never stated that they are Wendigo and one could easily interpret it in a very different light, but for that you’ll need to read the story.

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Rating

Guide to ratings (out of 5)

💀 = Overall as a film

🙀 = Scary

🎵 = Music/Sound

👻 = Effects

🩸 = Gore

Brittany:

💀💀

🙀🙀

🎵🎵🎵

👻👻👻

🩸🩸🩸

Dan:

💀💀

🙀🙀

🎵🎵🎵

👻👻👻

🩸🩸🩸

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