Antlers-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

 PLOT SUMMARY: A school teacher involves herself in the life of a student who harbours a dark secret about his family.

Victims of abuse often find it difficult to move on. Even after getting proper therapy, it is hard to shake off that terrible feeling when they watch or hear someone else facing the same ordeal. That is when their own nightmare surfaces and makes them relive the whole incident again.

This is what happens to school teacher Julia when she notices her student Lucas behaving oddly. 

ANTLERS Movie Plot

The movie begins with a man called Frank working with his accomplice at an abandoned mine. Frank goes out to see his son Aidan who is still in the car, assures his young son he will be back soon and then goes back in.

They hear a rumbling sound and Frank and his accomplice wonder if the crew is back to work already. That's when they are attacked by something unknown.

Aidan, bored and worried that his father still not returned, enters the mine and presumably encounters the being that attacked his father.

We then meet Julia who is at a store and ogling some vodka bottles. The checkout woman notices and asks her if she is sure she doesn't want anything else. Julia says no but keeps eyeing the alcohol. She goes home to her brother Paul who is a sheriff and not so eager to head to work. There is clearly some tension between them.

We then find out Julia is a teacher at school who can't get her students to even feign interest in storytelling. There's literally only one enthusiastic student but Julia ignores her because she suspects the student is a know-it-all.

She asks the students to name one story or fairytale but everyone is half asleep in her class, believing that storytelling isn't going to get them anywhere. She notices a student called Lucas who is not only not paying attention but also drawing in his book. She notices the class bully eyeing the quiet boy.

Sure enough, after class, Lucas finds a ripped out toy in his backpack and glares at the bully.

Lucas then goes around town picking up roadkill and setting up traps for small animals. He takes it all home and leaves it near a locked door.

The next day at school, Julia presses Lucas to tell a story based on the drawings she can apparently see from her position. Lucas has made up a story about three bears: Big bear, little bear and baby bear. The story isn't about Goldilocks.

The story is about Little bear having to take care of Big bear and Baby bear and Julia is shocked to hear such a tragically dark story. She immediately decides to interfere in his life.

She goes to inform the principal, Ellen, about Lucas but she doesn't seem too disturbed by it. According to her, this town is filled with traumatised kids who are mentally disturbed and that's okay.

Julia leaves the office and sees Lucas getting even with the bully by placing something disgusting in his backpack. Lucas is beaten up and Julia intervenes. But that's not enough.

She follows Lucas around town, noticing his weird habits and the way he keeps watching people eating ice cream. She offers to buy him some.

For a boy who hasn't eaten well in days, Lucas doesn't scarf down the ice cream but takes his time with it. Julia thinks she can manipulate answers from him about his family life but Lucas is cleverer than she thinks and tells her abruptly to quit following him around.

Julia takes offence at that and goes straight to Paul to report that her student is being weird. He also decides to look into it but Julia wants answers now and goes to Lucas' house to stare at it. When she hears a growling sound, she leaves.

Inside, Lucas is feeding his now transformed father and his brother Aidan too seems affected by whatever his father is turning into. Lucas promises his brother that he will play with him when their father goes to sleep. But late at night, when Aidan beckons him, Lucas puts headphones over his ears and continues to make dark drawings about his home life.

The next morning, the former sheriff is out for a stroll in the forest when he finds a half-eaten person near a tree. Paul is called and he identifies the remains as that of Frank's accomplice.

Pail begins to wonder if whatever his sister was going on about Frank's son Lucas, may be tied to this case.

Meanwhile, Ellen decides she has nothing to do and goes to check up on Lucas at his house. He isn't there of course but she hears a little boy and opens the locked door. Soon enough she is attacked by Frank whose transformation is now complete thanks to her. Something rips out of Frank and leaves, taking Aidan with him.

Lucas returns, sees half-eaten Ellen, and goes outside to cover up her car.

He is later attacked in the woods by his school bully but the monster comes over and kills him.

Now that more people are missing, Julia takes it upon herself to go to the house again. She finds the covered up car and realizes that Ellen was last here. Paul and the other cops are called. The smell of death hangs heavy in the air. They go inside and find the bodies of Ellen and whatever is remained of Frank. Aidan is nowhere to be seen.

Lucas is taken to the hospital where he is diagnosed with dehydration and malnourishment.

Julia and Paul go to the former sheriff who tells them that the piece of antler they found at the crime scene has to do with the legendary creature the Wendigo. Apparently, one turns into this creature if they have practised cannibalism. The Wendigo also jumps from one person to another and can be killed only when it is feeding.

ANTLERS Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

A search is called out for Aidan and the cop find him in a shed, in a box. Before he can call it in or help him, the wendigo impales him with its antlers. Paul decides to be a hero and go after the wendigo only to be shoved and stabbed in the shoulder with an antler. Any other character meets instant demise when confronted by the wendigo. But not Paul. He's just knocked around. Or perhaps the Wendigo foresaw what was about to happen and spared him to use him later.

Lucas is informed that his father's remains were found but he maintains that he is not dead. Julia appears mystified by that and thinks he's in denial.

She remembers the abuse she suffered from her father which prompted her to leave and turn to alcoholism. Her brother Paul was also abused by their mentally challenged father but she did nothing to protect him which is why there's a strain in the siblings' relationship.

When he escapes, Julia goes looking for Paul and finds him knocked out. She takes his gun and goes after Lucas who she suspects has gone to find his monster family.

She finds them at the mine. A fight takes place with Julia emerging winner after Lucas helps her by sticking a flare on the Wendigo. Julia then rips out its heart and thinks that's it for the Wendigo.

But then she notices Aidan's chest glowing and guesses he is going to transform into the wendigo. She convinces Lucas that the best way to help his little brother is by stabbing him and Lucas reluctantly agrees. He is stabbed and Lucas mourns his family.

Later, Julia, Paul and Aidan are standing by the lake. Julia tells Paul she will be taking care of Lucas. Paul isn't too happy with the arrangement but agrees. As Julia and Lucas walk away, Paul coughs and notices he's been leaking a black substance.

He realizes he's been infected with the Wendigo virus.

The movie had an interesting concept but does little with exploring the horror themes. The Wendigo is never really shown properly, possibly due to budget restraints, and his threat never keeps you on the edge of your seat. It completely misses out on the opportunity to be a truly scary movie given that it is about the Wendigo.

In the Pet Sematary, Stephen King mentions the Wendigo and those few lines were more impactful and frightening than Antlers which focuses more on drama.

Scare scale: 2.5/5