This poor boy 😢🦌👹

The Native American mythological tale of the Wendigo spirit comes to life in horrifying detail with Antlers. This film will have you traumatized with fear and also overflowing with sadness. If you are unfamiliar with the Wendigo, then you are in for quite the story.

This story takes place in a small town in central Oregon called Cispus Falls. There isn't much to look forward to for most people in this part of the USA. Lucas and his younger brother Aiden live alone in some dump with their father Frank. Lucas still goes to school throughout the week, but Aiden spends all of his time with his dad. This means he gets to play with rocks outside of an abandoned mine while his dad is down below cooking meth in seclusion. It truly is a sad life, but this way of living is a reality for some.

While Aiden waits for his father to finish cooking with a buddy, he begins to think that his father may never come back. Upon going into the darkness to look for his dad, they both are attacked by a creature from the depths of the lightless and cold mine. The boy and his father manage to survive the attack but are both changed forever.

The father becomes deathly ill and can feel that he is no longer himself. He locks himself in a room and explains to Lucas and Aiden that it is not safe to be around him. Soon Aiden begins to show similar symptoms and he too is locked away. This leaves Lucas to take care of himself since his mother died a while back and now his father cannot be there for him either. A boy aged 11-13 must find a way to survive, all while continuing to go to school.

It doesn't take long for Lucas's teacher Julia Meadows to notice that something is going on with Lucas. He shows many symptoms of having a traumatic home life, but she has no idea just how bad it is. Julia urges her brother/town sheriff Paul to help her figure out what is going on. Nobody takes Julia's concern about Lucas seriously until torn-up dead bodies start showing up around town.

This sickness that Frank and Aiden are possessed by is not an illness but instead originates from the evil Wendigo spirit. This shape-shifting creature takes the form of a demonic deer of sorts, although it is far more terrifying than just that. The power that this beast possesses is not something the average human can combat. The bloodthirst is something that Lucas himself must fulfill in order to keep his father and brother around for as long as possible.

Just wait until you see how horrible the living conditions are that Lucas is forced to put up with. To him it is normal, but to the average person, the level of filth is absurd and unacceptable. You will feel for the boy and want nothing more than for him to be saved from his miserable life. The question is, can anything put an end to the Wendigo spirit and its everlasting need to kill?

This film has a lot to deal with. There is plenty of mystery, but also some pretty nasty moments where you will just be glad you are in your bed or on your couch, rather than living the life that people like Lucas are stuck with. Check out the trailer below and give the movie a watch sometime. I saw it on HBO Max, but I'm sure you can find it elsewhere too.