Horror and drama often intertwine, almost to the point of being the same genre at times, especially in an era of elevated horror where the spooks are more cerebral and character based. Combining those those is great, but what happens when you then throw in creature feature tropes as well?
Antlers is what happens. Director Scott Cooper’s first attempt at horror following years in gritty dramas is an interesting oddity of the pandemic era. Creature features typically aren’t focused on character or anything beyond spectacle, but there’s something about Antlers which really sticks out – its massive potential which didn’t get properly realized.
Horror fans are looking back on the film, and dissecting how such an ambitious project based on such an intriguing short story failed to quite land all of its punches.
The clear issues of Antlers are its merging point between drama and creature feature, with so much time spent building up to its monstrous beast but overall failing to land the impact of the mythical Wendigo. The Native American mythological creature is absolutely terrifying when done right, but does Antlers actually deliver on the build-up? Probably not.
Maybe the worst thing which can be said for a creature feature is it feels like a video game. One commenter in particular raised criticism it looked like a Silent Hill boss battle – which would be great if the monster was elusive, terrifying, and deep like Pyramid Head.
Antlers also engages in probably the worst trope used across horror, the use of sexual abuse as part and parcel of these stories. Very few have managed to make this anywhere near interesting – the best film to use it being I Spit on Your Grave which is not a horror movie, either.
There’s some continuing issues from Cooper’s previous films which reappear in Antlers, particular flat filming, dull colors, and often unappealing characters. This works great in a mobster crime drama like Black Mass, but doesn’t synthesize well with the horror genre.
The positive of Antlers is it can still be redone – the short story origins means it has plenty of chance to be done correctly and perhaps even just as a short film. Antlers is available to stream on HBO Max.