Antrum

Antrum (2018)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: David Amito/Michael Laicni

Starring: Nicole Thompkins, Rowan Smyth

From: Else Films

Featuring the Ron Jeremy of Baphomet effigies.

Last night on a whim I finally checked out a unique movie that has been known by me for awhile and has been on Prime for a bit. The premise definitely is intriguing: a few minutes of mockumentary footage serves as bookends to a purported cursed late 1970's movie which caused death or injury to those that saw it the few times it was screened before it was lost for years. I was amused by this old carny trick, especially when a warning (and a countdown) was shown before the actual movie was screened.

I do comprehend why even on Letterboxd the reception has been rather mixed, to put it mildly. Most of the movie is teen girl Oralee and her younger brother Nathan out in the woods... you see, their dog dies and their mom says “it is going to hell.” Thus, they are in the middle of nowhere to dig a hole to Hell and save the pooch's soul. I realize how it sounds but there is an explanation for all this, including why the hound was suddenly accused of being evil. Anyhow, weird things are heard and seen. Many people accuse this of being “boring”... my attention never wavered. Perhaps it helped that it was viewed on Prime while the headphones are plugged in and all the weird sound effects (along with the great chilling ethereal score) were heard. It wasn't dull to me. There really is an effigy with a huge... ahem, “member” and as such things were done way back in the Middle Ages and before... it is not just shock value.

Some things could be nitpicked, and they will. The filmmakers did try too hard. The subliminal stuff is understandable as back in the day this was a common complaint concerning certain celluloid works... it just rarely was an actual thing. While it is also true that a few exploitation movies had added shock footage added by someone who later acquired the print, it was not needed here. And why does this have opening credits both in English and Cyrillic? I don't think that was ever a thing for a foreign print-as this is supposed to be-but maybe I am mistaken, I dunno.

Even with those demerits and me not always believing this is from the late 70's, overall I can still say this was fine and is more than just a great gimmick. It's more of an unsettling horror movie than one filled with shocking visceral moments (as a talking head in the beginning acknowledged to be the case) and it is rather creepy, especially by the end when the full implications of the plot are revealed. Many creepy images are in the background and I do appreciate a modern horror effort that is not full of jumpscares or loud noises... here those elements are not present at all. Instead you are enveloped in a freaky story that includes many nods to mythology and thank goodness there are nice performances from both Nicole Thompkins & Rowan Smyth as most of Antrum is just those two on screen. Incidentally, Thompkins is the model and voice for Jill in the Resident Evil 3 reboot.

Antrum won't work for everyone and I understand the general public will be let down due to this usually having the subtitle of “The Deadliest Film Ever Made” as they will expect something else and not realize it's another parlor trick from days gone by. Even if I wish some thing would have been done differently or not at all, for some it will be as intriguing a picture to watch as it was for me, and others will love it to death. For me, a grand moment was footage of a stop-motion animation squirrel (!), as I miss the days of stop-motion animation.