Antlers is a pretty nice take on some classic horror elements. It's very dark and moody. The scene is set beautifully. Amazing camera work throughout. The acting is phenomenal and the cast was really solid. The characters are fairly well flushed out for the most part.
The thing is that it felt like they rushed the ending. I would have appreciated if they had bumped it to a 2 hour film and actually finished the build up with the past trauma that occurred for the cop brother and teacher sister. Any sort of conclusion there would have been nice, or even just more of the backstory to fully bring out their motivations. Something was missing there. The final battle was also pretty rushed and very anti-climactic. The thing felt too easy to kill, but I guess that's because it never really dies. So maybe it didn't really care all that much. Either way, it detracts a fair amount from the overall fear element.
Their take on the creature was really nicely done though. Definitely one of the best wendigos I've seen on screen. I would have liked if they had somehow weaved in more cultural elements earlier though, as it seems like they remembered halfway through that the lore is Native, so they said, 'Wait.. Don't we need to introduce a Native character? Woops.' Everyone else had a well-established back story, but not that vital character? They just kinda threw him in halfway and said "Oh, yea, you remember him right? Cool, moving on." It's lazy, at best. More realistically though, they probably just didn't want to actually research the culture they were working with and write a real character. At least they cast someone who was actually Aboriginal, I guess?? Hard to be grateful for the bare minimum there, but it is what it is.
Ultimately, I didn't have high hopes for the movie so I was pleasantly surprised by what they did right. Most creature features don't do it for me, but this one was enjoyable for the most part.
The thing is that it felt like they rushed the ending. I would have appreciated if they had bumped it to a 2 hour film and actually finished the build up with the past trauma that occurred for the cop brother and teacher sister. Any sort of conclusion there would have been nice, or even just more of the backstory to fully bring out their motivations. Something was missing there. The final battle was also pretty rushed and very anti-climactic. The thing felt too easy to kill, but I guess that's because it never really dies. So maybe it didn't really care all that much. Either way, it detracts a fair amount from the overall fear element.
Their take on the creature was really nicely done though. Definitely one of the best wendigos I've seen on screen. I would have liked if they had somehow weaved in more cultural elements earlier though, as it seems like they remembered halfway through that the lore is Native, so they said, 'Wait.. Don't we need to introduce a Native character? Woops.' Everyone else had a well-established back story, but not that vital character? They just kinda threw him in halfway and said "Oh, yea, you remember him right? Cool, moving on." It's lazy, at best. More realistically though, they probably just didn't want to actually research the culture they were working with and write a real character. At least they cast someone who was actually Aboriginal, I guess?? Hard to be grateful for the bare minimum there, but it is what it is.
Ultimately, I didn't have high hopes for the movie so I was pleasantly surprised by what they did right. Most creature features don't do it for me, but this one was enjoyable for the most part.