Review by Jon Donnis
I hadn't seen or heard pretty much any publicity for Antlers, so I expected this to be your run of the mill supernatural horror film, but I was pleasantly surprised by this rather engaging film.
Directed by Scott Cooper, and starring the excellent Keri Russell, probably best known for FX spy thriller series The Americans, as a school teacher, one of her students is seemingly suffering from personal problems at home, but what she doesn't know is that he actually has a dangerous secret in his house.
The film starts off with Frank Weaver who runs a meth lab out of an abandoned mine, one day Frank is attacked by some kind of creature, along with his son Aiden, they survive, we learn later on that their condition got worse when home, so he ordered his older son Lucas to lock them up.
As time goes on, Lucas collects roadkill or left-over food, to take back to feed his father and brother. All the while trying to act normal by going to school. After being bullied and ending up in the nurse's office, his teacher notices marks on his body, and worries that he is being abused, and since she has personal experience of abuse when she was young, she is determined to help him.
What follows is a genuinely engaging film, with some excellent performances, especially from Keri Russell as teacher Julia Meadows, and the young Jeremy T. Thomas as Lucas Weaver.
The horror elements are well done, never over the top, or too silly, there is a slightly clichéd ending, but if they didn't do that, you would probably moan, so I will give them a pass.
The Good
High quality acting and direction. Well filmed, and at just over 90 minutes, the perfect length for a horror film.
The Bad
Perhaps a little serious at times, for what is a creature based supernatural horror.
Overall
Thoroughly enjoyable film.
I score Antlers a solid 8/10
Review By Jon Donnis
Out now! - https://amzn.to/3rV8dbF
