Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made

Just watched this film and have still been alive for about 20 minutes now so I'm pretty pleased about that.

Gaining some notoriety on the VOD circuit after it found itself sitting atop of Amazon Prime's number 1 trending position during the Covid-19 streaming highs of mid-April, Antrum's gimmicky set-up of ¼ documentary about the film in question and ¾ feature developed as if it was filmed in the late 70's and only now unearthed after a series of cursed screenings and death of viewers, is a neat marketing ploy for what is an otherwise entirely generic and rather bland offering.

To give its directors David Amito and Michael Laicini credit, Antrum does a great job in its quest to feel like a genuine product of the horror nasties that littered rental stores in the 70's and 80's and in an production space and sense this low budget offering should be commended for its respect of the films that clearly inspired it, but the narrative built around this is a Blair Witch like slow-burn that never gets to the culmination or pay-off one would hope.

For what's supposed to be "the deadliest film ever!" much of Antrum is rather tame, you keep suspecting a finale to blow us off our feet is coming, something akin to Hereditary, The Witch or The House of the Devil perhaps, but Amito and Laicini are unable to get us to a destination like that as Antrum peters out with an ending that is neither scary or shocking, despite brief hints it might be going to some such space.

Surrounded by Alicia Fricker's noteworthy score and some solid performances from its young leads Nicole Tompkins and Rowan Smyth, as two siblings hell-bent on finding the soul of their lost family pet in some seedy woods that harbor some dark goings on, Antrum has more going for it than your average direct to VOD release that litter the marketplaces these days with their enticing titles and plot lines but it's never able to capitalise on the strengths it finds itself in possession of.

There's no doubt that had Antrum been able to utilise the tools at its disposal and done more with its hybrid idea of fake documentary played straight with a special screening of the film at the core of its investigation, we could've been in for a real horror treat but despite its title that claims otherwise the only deadly thing about this affair is how boring and lame it gets in its end game, squashing any chance it had of making its mark.

Final Say -

The marketing team behind Antrum deserve some sort of bonus as while much has been made about concept and deadly nature of this film, Antrum is in most cases a boorish horror that lives off its fine throwback style to a time gone by.

2 grimoires out of 5

The opening mockumentary about the movie was the best part and interesting. You hear people talk about the film and where it came from and how it supposedly killed everyone at the initial screening, which is why it was banned and supposedly lost forever. There was some very intriguing lore there. I wish that would have been the whole movie. Instead we get shown the movie that was recently uncovered and it's pretty boring.

A girl and her brother go into the woods to try and find their dog... Or bury their dog; I'm still not sure. The sister has been telling her younger brother about the entrance to hell through a sort of folklore story.

They walk a lot, they barely talk for a while, they meet some rednecks who have some satanic plot. They dig some more. Supposedly digging their way to hell. Looking for a dog that died, but the brother loved him so the sister thinks she can find the dog again by digging their way to hell. It's convoluted and boring.

It looks like a movie made in the 70's through grainy after effects and the styling of clothes is appropriate. The acting isn't bad at all. For how young the leads are I think they did a good job overall in that respect. It just fails to capture any real suspense or even a slight thrill. There are moments of unease and some cool visuals, but most of that has nothing to do with the main storyline.

Overall, I think this was a huge missed opportunity. When the most compelling part of your movie is the first ten minutes (which actually isn't part of the 'movie') you have a problem.

It is slow, uneventful, messy and just uninspired. When I want to see more of a mockumentary about a cursed tape (which we have all seen before) then you know the rest is a dud.

I am giving it 3 stars because the mockumentary section was good, the acting was decent and it did give that 70's lost film kind of vibe at times. Beyond that there is nothing to see here. If you were drawn in by the marketing of the most horrifying, deadly movie then don't watch this. If you want to see a slightly well crafted 70's style movie then maybe give it a watch, but don't expect anything super compelling or scary at all.

This film will only kill you with boredom.

It's pretty good. There are some creepy scenes in here. No huge scares but definitely an eerie creepy atmosphere. Don't worry it won't actually hurt you it's just a movie. It's pretty good we say give it a try! Solid 6!

Unfortunately the only deadly matter in this movie is boredom. The deadly boredom hits you very soon, then works it way, slowly, being helped by one of the silliest plots one can conceive, leading you either to sleep or to die. I died, it works...