It’s certainly hard to pigeonhole director Scott Cooper.
His credits include a music-fueled drama (“Crazy Heart”), a suspense thriller (“Out of the Furnace”), a gangster flick (“Black Mass”) and a Western (“Hostiles”).
With his new film, “Antlers,” he can add horror to his resume.
And with the help of veteran horror filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, onboard as a producer, Cooper has made another decent work. As with the aforementioned films, the good outweighs the bad.
However, the oddly named “Antlers” — about a violent deer-like creature from American Indian lore — feels a little too thin to give it much of a recommendation.
Yes, it offers the genre’s requisite moodiness and scares. And even with one character making the genre’s obligatory bad decisions, it never really frustrates the viewer. However, with ultimately too few plot elements, it never truly enthralls, either.
“Antlers” is set in an isolated, economically depressed Oregon town, where middle-school teacher Julia has returned from California to live with her sheriff brother, Paul (Jesse Plemons), who ran for the position only after no one else would. There is a quiet uneasiness between them for reasons that will become clearer deeper into the film.
Julia takes an interest in a quiet boy in her class, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas), who, for an assignment, tells a disturbing story that obviously reveals something is far from right at home. The accompanying drawings he did — and that Julia pulls from the trash — only heighten her concerns.
One day in town, Julia buys Lucas some ice cream, and the two bond over the loss of their respective mothers. However, when she presses him about his father, he clams up and excuses himself.
“And don’t follow me this time,” he says.
But continue to snoop she does, and Julia soon gets hints of what we’ve already seen — that there is something unsettling and strange of the supernatural variety happening in Lucas’ home. Without saying much more, know that the boy’s father, Frank (Scott Haze), and brother, Aiden (Sawyer Jones), are not in the same state in which we meet them in the film’s opening sequence.
Although familiar with Frank and what is likely an unfortunate home situation to begin with for Lucas and Aiden, Paul isn’t too concerned when Julia pleads with him that something needs to be done. It’s at least not atop his list of priorities.
However, that changes when a couple of folks are the victims of violent, hard-to-explain attacks. Paul and Julia are told of the Wendigo, which the film’s production notes describe as “a mythological deer-like creature and/or evil spirit in the mythology of the Native American Algonquian tribes,” but Paul is hesitant to believe such a thing could exist.
Yeah, um, he’ll have reason to alter his thinking on that.
“Antlers” is based on Nick Antosca’s short story “The Quiet Boy,” which, at the risk of beating a dead deer, would have been a better title. The film is co-written by C. Henry Chaisson, Antosca and Cooper. You just wish there were more to it; in a world where too many films are overpopulated with characters, this one is underpopulated.
It is nice to see Russell — the onetime “Felicity” star who for years was a big reason why the period spy drama series “The Americans” was must-watch television — get this starring role. Like “Plemons,” the onetime “Friday Night Lights” cast member who’s gone on to appear in myriad films that include “The Irishman” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” she gives a dependable performance but nothing all that interesting.
If there is someone who grabs your attention, it’s young Thomas, who infuses Lucas with this subtle haunted quality.
Also likely deserving of some credit is del Toro, the director of films that include the acclaimed 2006 work “Pan’s Labyrinth” and 2017 Academy Award winner “The Shape of Water.” When you finally get a few good (and disturbing) looks at the memorable monster, you assume (correctly) that del Toro had a creative hand in its design.
Cooper’s first stab at horror is quite competent — he’ll make you jump even when you suspect the scare is coming — but “Antlers” isn’t much beyond that.
‘Antlers’
Where: Theaters.
When: Oct. 29.
Rated: R for violence including gruesome images, and for language.
Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Stars (of four): 2.
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