Antlers

Last night I crossed another movie off my list by seeing Antlers and, even though I enjoyed many elements, I ultimately found it to be too bleak even for my taste.  Julia Meadows (Keri Russell) has recently returned home to an economically depressed small town in Oregon to be with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), the local sherriff.  She takes a job as a teacher at the middle school and, as a victim of abuse herself, she begins to suspect that one of her students, Lucas Weaver (Jeremy T. Thomas), is also being abused.  Several weeks earlier, his father Frank (Scott Haze) and his younger brother Aiden (Sawyer Jones) were attacked by an unknown creature inside of an abandoned mine that Frank was using as a meth lab.  They survive the attack but Frank begins a disturbing transformation so he forces Lucas to lock them in the attic and bring him roadkill to satisfy his insatiable hunger.  Frank eventually becomes a terrifying horned creature and escapes into the woods.  Soon after, Paul is called to the scenes of several brutal, but unexplained, murders and Julia suspects that Lucas is somehow involved.  When Lucas finally confides in her, she is forced to confront the creature, and her own inner demons, to save him.  I like horror movies that are based on folklore and the mythology surrounding the wendigo, a humanoid creature that is often depicted with antlers and represents an imbalance in many Native American cultures, is fascinating.  I really liked the design of the creature and there are quite a few genuinely frightening moments.  The narrative alludes to childhood trauma, poverty, addiction, and the destruction of the environment and, even though these themes are not as well developed as they could be, it is this hopelessness that unleashes the horror that follows.  I usually like movies that are dark and depressing because I find them to be cathartic (I don't know what this says about me) but this movie, especially the ending, is so devoid of hope that I left the theater feeling numb.  If even I find a movie too disheartening, I can't imagine that anyone else would enjoy it.