Close Menu
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Momo and Okarun share a close moment in Dandadan

    Momo And Okarun: The Gold Standard For Shonen Romance

    07/03/2025
    Ironheart Episodes 4 6 But Why Tho 1

    ‘Ironheart’ Explained: Explore MCU’s Bold New Chapter

    07/01/2025
    Buck in 9-1-1

    ‘9-1-1’ Has To Let Buck Say Bisexual

    06/29/2025
    Nintendo Welcome Tour promotional image of the maraca mini-game

    The One “Game” That Justifies The Nintendo Switch 2 Purchase

    06/25/2025
    Destiel Confession in Supernatural - Castiel (Misha Collins) and Dean (Jensen Ackles)

    The Destiel Confession: The Lasting Importance Of Supernatural’s Greatest Ship

    06/22/2025
  • Squid Game
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Switch 2 Games
  • Summer Game Fest
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘Antlers’ is Grotesquely Gorgeous Even with its Misses

REVIEW: ‘Antlers’ is Grotesquely Gorgeous Even with its Misses

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez10/13/20215 Mins Read
Antlers - But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Antlers - But Why Tho

Antlers was one of the last films I was supposed to see before the pandemic started. Announced in 2018, set to release in 2020, the film is finally here and it’s a grotesquely gorgeous one at that. Directed by Scott Cooper, the film is based on the short story “The Quiet Boy” by Channel Zero creator Nick Antosca, with Antosca, Cooper & Henry Chaisson serving as the film’s writers, and is produced by iconic master of horror Guillermo del Toro. Antlers stars Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scot Haze, and Rory Cochrane.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Antlers takes place in isolated Oregon, where Julia (Keri Russell) is acclimating to life in her childhood home with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), and the trauma that comes with the house. And school isn’t much better, as she struggles to get her students engaged, she finds herself pulled into Lucas’s (Jeremy T. Thomas) life. A sullen face, quiet demeanor, and a darkness rustling under the surface showcased in his artwork, Julia notices abuse, seeing herself in the child. That said, Julia’s fears of abuse are just the start when it’s revealed that there is something darker living in the boy’s home which all leads to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature: the Wendigo.

The film is a not-so-subtle exploration of the cycle of violence and trauma that is facilitated by familial abuse with the Wendigo embodying not only the corrosion of the land by mining but drugs as well. First, we see Lucas and the Weaver family with a striking opening sequence that jumps immediately into the horror with the mysterious creature make its first appearance. Thomas’s performance as Lucas is show-stopping and haunting.

For such a young actor to bring both a sense of fear, resiliency, and callousness in such distinct ways from scene to scene is breathtaking. From his physical appearance to his tone of voice, Lucas is clearly a child who has been through trauma. As the film’s intro reveals his father’s drug issues and position in selling meth, it’s clear that his role of protecting himself has existed long before the Wendigo came back home from the mines.

His struggle to protect himself and his family is echoed in Julia’s life with her brother as she struggles to face the memories of abuse and the guilt of leaving her brother behind when she left home. Over the course of the film, we see Julia morph from someone who has survived but with scars that are still healing, by the end, into a woman who has embraced her trauma as a way for her to save those around her. Putting aside her emotions to do what needs to be done in the film’s end.

Both Russell and Thomas are perfect anchors to the film, grounding Antlers in a narrative that explores survival and our inability to sometimes escape the cycle. They’re powerful on screen, especially when together. And their chemistry and vulnerability is only enhanced by the film’s beauty. Somehow, even in large sweeping landscapes, a lot of Antlers feels claustrophobic and cold. As the Wendigo becomes more prominent there is a fire to the scenes that becomes overwhelming and the film’s effects team was working overtime to bring a creature worthy of Guillermo del Toro’s producer credit to life.

From mangled bodies to husks, there is a grotesque beauty to Antlers that showcases is an understanding of body horror that takes the Wendigo and the harm it causes to the next level. Additionally, the use of sound in moments of excruciating body horror will make you squirm. For effects, acting, and design Antlers succeeds.

That said, the film has one glaring issue that horror has fallen victim to all too often: using Native culture as window dressing for a white story. Despite having consultancy from Smoke Signals director Chris Eyre, the film treats Native culture similarly to the horror films that came before it. In fact, the Wendigo terrorizing the white family, when coupled with the film’s opening “warning” recited in an Indigenous language, feels too much like “white people disturb Native land and are punished.” Add in the fact the film’s only Native character with over three lines plays a version of the Magical Native American and is only there to explain the Wendigo to the protagonists, and it’s hard to not be taken aback by it all.

Sure, getting the Wendigo “right” is one element, but by setting threads of Native culture that aren’t explored and instead used to decorate the narrative, Antlers falls short. If you’re going to lean in, lean all the way in and center Natives in a story. To call this folkloric horror is to ignore that the stories being taken from Natives isn’t folklore or myths, but seen as a reality.

Folkloric horror, when done right, understands the importance of the stories not just in how it can scare audiences, but the power the stories have in the cultures they belong to. Good folkloric horror looks at folktales and understands what they mean to communities and more importantly when they’re more than just a myth, but a way of life. Antlers isn’t good folkloric horror because it misses those points.

Overall, Antlers is a film with stunning performances, uncomfortable themes, body horror, and beautiful effects work. It’s a mean film that ends with a punch. But alas, it’s still a horror film that wants Native culture without actually incorporating Indigenous people as more than tropes.

Antlers is playing in theaters nationwide October 29, 2021.

Antlers
  • 7/10
    Rating - 7/10
7/10

TL;DR

Overall, Antlers is a film with stunning performances, uncomfortable themes, body horror, and beautiful effects work. It’s a mean film that ends with a punch. But alas, it’s still a horror film that wants Native culture without actually incorporating Indigenous people as more than tropes.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘CLEAR,’ Issue #1
Next Article REVIEW: ‘The Last Duel’ is a Miss
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

The Old Guard 2
5.5

REVIEW: ‘The Old Guard 2’ Is Distracted And Half-Baked

07/02/2025
Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World: Rebirth
5.5

REVIEW: ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Is Best When Nobody Is Talking

06/30/2025
MEGAN 2.0 promotional image
7.0

REVIEW: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Puts Action First

06/29/2025
F1 (2025) promotional key art
8.0

REVIEW: ‘F1’ Is A High-Octane Blockbuster

06/24/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Promotional image form Netflix
9.0

REVIEW: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Brings Beautiful Animation And An Even Better Message

06/20/2025
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later
8.5

REVIEW: ’28 Years Later’ Is How Franchises Should Return

06/18/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Taecyeon and Seohyun in The First Night With The Duke Episodes 7-8
7.5
TV

REVIEW: ‘The First Night With The Duke’ Episodes 7-8

By Sarah Musnicky07/03/2025

The First Night With The Duke Episodes 7-8 spends welcome time in pre-domestic bliss before new developments stir up trouble.

The Terminal List: Dark Wolf trailer First Look Image From Prime Video News

Prime Video Unleashes Teaser for Prequel Series The Terminal List: Dark Wolf

By Kate Sánchez07/04/2025

The first Terminal List: Dark Wolf trailer was released today by Prime Video. The series…

Black Clover Season 5 featured News

Black Clover New Season Gets First Look Teaser from Crunchyroll

By Sarah Musnicky07/05/2025

Black Clover is back for a brand new season, and Crunchyroll has revealed the first footage and key art out of Anime Expo.

Absolute Green Lantern Issue 4 DC Comics

REVIEW: ‘Absolute Green Lantern’ Issue 4

By William Tucker07/02/2025

Absolute Green Lantern Issue 4 starts to connect the past and present, finally revealing how Jo inhereited the power of the Green Lantern.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here