Antlers (2021) #Wendigo #Thriller

Antlers (2021) was on my 2020 watchlist, but due to the pandemic, its release was pushed like so many movies. Now that I’ve finally seen it, I’m not sure how I feel. I was excited to see it because it’s about the wendigo and Guillermo del Toro produced it.

As a non-horror movie, it was riveting. The drama and the character’s backstories were very well put together and thought through. Lucas is twelve and an outsider, who has a secret that he’s doing a pretty good job of hiding. Julia has a horrific backstory that is teased in the film with some disturbing flashbacks, but nothing very chilling.

As a horror movie, it was a little flat. There’s so much they could’ve done with the wendigo and didn’t. Though, what they did do was exceptional and frightening when it was present. In the opening scene, Frank and Kenny (Michael Eklund, played Bobo Del Rey in Wynonna Earp) are working in their meth lab in an abandoned mine when they hear a strange sound coming from the tunnel. While I enjoyed the jump scare, this was all there was for a very long time.

Even when Frank transformed into the wendigo, there was very little activity; only two kills and both were technically revenge kills. The wendigo itself was amazing, but there wasn’t enough of it.

Even with a few jump scares and a gnarly monster, Antlers wasn’t really a horror film. As I ponder it in general, I can only give it 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

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