No one knows what to expect from 2020’s crop of genre movies, but the latest, and apparently final, trailer for Antlers offers a hint. It shows the makings of an intense, gross, mysterious horror film from a few excellent filmmakers and that bodes well for at least one genre film in the new year.
Based on a short story called “The Quiet Boy” by Nick Antosca, Antlers is directed by Scott Cooper and produced by Guillermo del Toro. Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons star as adults in a small community that’s experiencing unspeakable violence, and start to suspect that a young boy may be the key to it all.
Here’s the latest trailer for Antlers.
I kind of wish these trailers didn’t reveal the monster in this movie (early press materials wouldn’t even acknowledge there was one), but at the same time, you get it. Some of Cooper’s previous films, like Hostiles or Out of the Furnace, have a similar rural feel and aren’t genre movies. The fact this movie looks in that same vein but is a creature horror movie is a selling point. Plus, you add onto it Del Toro’s guidance, Cooper’s eye, and the talent of Plemons and Russell? This could easily end up being one of 2020’s best horror films.
Antlers opens April 17 in the U.S. There is no current Australian release date.