Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made

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

This was a film that I heard about from one of the people that voted on what films to have at the Nightmares Film Festival. The little bit he told me, I made sure this was one that I would check out as it kind of sounds like similar to things like The Ring where there's a curse film. This was also the regional premiere for it, so that was kind of a cool aspect as well. The synopsis is a young boy and girl enters the forest to dig a hole to hell. Said to be a cursed film from the late 1970's, Antrum examines the horrifying power of storytelling.

We actually start this off as a mockumentary of the history of this film. It is supposed to be coming out of Russia from what I could tell. This was screened in Romania and the theater burned down. There were also mysterious deaths when it was shopped around to show at film festivals. I really like how you get this uneasy feeling before it is actually shown. There's even a warning at the beginning stating that anyone who watches it, will die.

The story itself is very basic. We have Nathan (Rowan Smyth) and his sister Oralee (Nicole Tompkins). They're family dog has to be put down and Nathan takes it quite hard. His mother isn't the nicest when he asks if the dog will go to heaven. He's shot down on this. His sister finds a book where she thinks that she can go to Hell to bring the dog's soul back. Near them, in the woods is antrum, or the door to hell. They have to dig a hole and go through the many layers in order to get to the level the dog's soul is at. Things aren't necessarily how they seem though and there are these weird men nearby who also seem to be Devil worshippers.

The recap to this had to be a little bit shorter as there's actually not a lot to the story here. I actually don't mind this though, because a lot of what happens here is really in the visuals. I don't really want to spoil a reveal that happens late in the movie, because it actually makes a lot of sense to the truth of what is going on. A lot of this is actually based on perception though.

There's really cool aspect to this film that if you're paying attention of you will see flashes of images in different places. What makes this even better is that at the very ending during the credits, it goes back to the documentary aspect to explain them. It actually makes sense why this is a cursed film and possible why the bad things happen. I'm not going to lie, I'm a sucker for this even though I know that it's not real.

Something else I should point out is that this is from Canada, but they make it out to be like it is from Russia. They do a clever job at that making it seem why things are so off like they are. They also did a great job in filtering the images to make it look like it was filmed in the 70's. It is little attentions to details like that which make me appreciate the work that the filmmakers are doing. There's also not really a lot in the way of effects and what we get are more tricks of film and the look of things, which definitely adds to what they're going for.

To shift to the pacing, the runtime comes in at 95 minutes. I think this actually works here, because the film within the film is probably just over an hour. The opening takes time to set the stage and try to build the fear of what happens to those that actually watch this. I'm not going to lie to you, I was a bit unnerved even though I knew nothing would happen. I do think that the lack of story does hurt just the slightest bit because I just feel it doesn't necessarily know where it was going. The ending was fine in my opinion and worked for what they were building toward.

This would take me to the acting of this film, where I have to say overall they were fine. The historians and film experts I believed. They don't really come off as actors so that helps with the realism. The actors in the film are definitely amateurish feeling, which actually adds to creepiness of it for me. Like I said, they're not great, but there is something to what they're doing.

Now with that said, this is an odd film that stuck with me a bit longer than it should have. It doesn't have a lot in the way of story, but I like the back-story they create for it. The pacing is good for the most part, but the lack of story does make it lose its way a bit in later in the story for me. There are some cool visuals and some really creepy parts for sure. The acting comes off very amateurish, but I actually think that works in the favor of the movie. The soundtrack doesn't necessarily stand out, but it does fit for what was needed and I do have to say, there's some really creepy ambient noise as well. Overall I'd have to say this is a slightly above average film. I liked it, but I think there's some missing parts to it really set it apart from similar type movies.

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...

While clearly not appreciated by everyone, I found Antrum incredibly effective.

I would start with the pitch-perfect performances of the two protagonists, played by Nicole Tompkins and Rowan Smyth. At times you forget you're watching a movie; you can tell the direction is very deliberate here as the script slithers along in an unorthodox and bizarre way, yet these two actors somehow manage to express exactly what you'd believe real people would at any given moment.

Secondly, the film is disorienting and oppressive. This is accomplished, first of all, by invading a "safe space" from demons, Satan, hell, and the occult: a sunny, almost idyllic forest. Usually, dark forces creep around in gothic mansions or dark forests after midnight, around bonfires.

Not so, here. Instead, the bad stuff happens mainly in broad daylight in an otherwise peaceful, appealing setting. The effect, therefore, is more unsettling because daylight and nice forests are supposed to be the respite between the periods of darkness where evil things rise and run amok in the shadows.

There is no respite here.

Further, the not-quite-subliminal frames inserted into the film really amplify matters, which brings me to the most important point:

If the filmmakers would have asked me my opinion of this, I would have advised them to ditch the concept of a "cursed film" leaving the middle part - the Antrum story itself - to speak for itself. It feels like the filmmakers started out with this idea of a cursed film, perhaps with the film's plot as a secondary concern, but in reality the film itself holds up well and exceeds expectations.

In particular, we're not 100% sure that what we're seeing is really happening, or whether the two characters have unwittingly created an egregore, in which a consensus hallucination of sort is occurring.

Had the filmmakers had a much larger budget, they might have been tempted to use CGI to represent actual supernatural elements, but, in particular, the chains dragging across the forest floor were somehow more horrifying than a full-bore representation of what was supposed to be pulling at those chains.

I might have even advised pulling back further to make this even more subtle. The real tension here is between what is real and what is imagined in the minds of the characters.

The metal baphomet is reminiscent of the wicker man, which I appreciated, and the way the film doesn't feel the need to explain the presence of that or the forest Hungarians who treat it as some kind of totem, is greatly appreciated. Any attempt to tie this film together with a grand explanation would have been far less satisfying.

Something is seriously wrong in this forest.

Lastly, there is the soundtrack, which must be fully heard to be believed. As with the deft editing, I kept wondering how the filmmakers figured out how to combine all of these things the way they did to create a deeply unsettling experience.

I am not sure why this is not rated higher. Viewed in the right state of mind, the film really breaks a lot of conventions.

I like it a whole lot. What starts as a film about tunnelling to hell morphs into folk horror, as the landscape - the sunny forest - becomes a character unto itself.

Warning. This is a movie that's better watched without prior research.

Antrum is a gimmick. It is a movie about a movie that plays the movie in its entirety, and that is going to make it a difficult pill for many people to swallow. But the premise is pretty solid. There exists this movie, it is pretty messed up, and everyone who watches it dies. Now, does it work?

The movie is interesting in its commitment to the gimmick. It does feel like a movie from the 70s. There are a few tells that detract from it, but things like the choice of clothes, the jenky 70s audio, and grainy film quality does make it feel older. But more importantly, it makes some of the effects feel natural. Periodically, there are sigils that pop up that looked as though they were etched into the film by hand. Then comes the truly messed up parts. The movie sporadically just quits and cuts to some shocking footage. I didn't care for the torture scenes so much but there is one scene that I found truly disturbing. Without spoiling anything, its when the screen just spontaneously goes black where the movie gets genuinely so creepy it becomes hard to watch. There is no build to it but it is the most upsetting two minutes I've seen in any movie.

Unfortunately, the plot of the movie is a bit slow and tedious. There are long shots of kids digging a hole. In fact, that's the premise of the movie. This isn't necessarily bad, it works with the gimmick, but if you can't bring yourself to buy into that gimmick, its going to hurt. A lot. No manner of horrible taxidermy squirrels or devil shaped brass bulls is going to save that. If you can get into it, the movie is pretty entertaining, like looking up cursed images online. Its just you putting more into it.

I overall liked it. It was a fun experience if only for its cursed film gimmick. Not for everyone but ultimately something that should have been tried for yourself before reading a single review. So if you've gotten to this point, you've done goofed.