L'Antre - Le Film le plus meurtrier jamais réalisé

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.

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

This film was a gimmick film that begins with a 10 minute "documentary" that says many people who have viewed this film have died and it was advertised as such. The film itself is a 70s horror film about two kids trying to bury their pet dog but end up summoning evil. It has a waning saying by viewing this film you may die as a result. Obviously is all crap but its a kinda cool gimmick that would work better if this kinda thing happened decades ago. It may make a good midnight movie experience. It also has demonic images that randomly pop up through the film. Sadly the film itself is pretty much just boring. Mostly kids walking around in the woods. The film takes an interesting premise and does little with it.

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!