Antlers

Scott Cooper’s hard-nosed, humorless style translates well to the horror of Antlers, a dark, gritty, unflinching monster movie that makes the bulk of its genre peers look safe by comparison.

Set in a sleepy Oregon town, the creepy adaptation of co-screenwriter Nick Antosca’s short story "The Quiet Boy” concerns an evil elk-like spirit awakened in the depths of an old mine by meth cook Frank Weaver (Scott Haze, Minari). Along with his young son Aiden (Sawyer Jones), Frank becomes infected by the supernatural entity and, three weeks later, exists locked in the family home’s attic, attended to by understandably disturbed tween son Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas, giving an excellent child performance).

The effects of these, er, issues at home are registered by Lucas’s teacher Julia Meadows (Keri Russell), recently back in her childhood house with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, and dealing with her own demons.

Though Cooper, Antosca, and third writer Henry Chaisson present somewhat shallow explorations of the Meadows siblings’ childhood traumas and Julia’s apparent struggles with sobriety, enough bread crumbs are present — and in the service of textbook strong turns by Russell and Plemons — to accept why these damaged souls would feel moved to protect Lucas when his domestic situation is accidentally let loose on the community.

In staging these subsequent scenes of terror, Cooper proves a master of suspense — skills hinted at in Hostiles, still his best film, and put to superb use here alongside his matter-of-fact presentation of mysteriously flayed bodies that further amplify the skin-crawling tone. The nefarious entity’s unusual appearance likewise adds to the overall sense of dread, and while only credited as a producer, there’s a feeling that Guillermo del Toro had significant influence on the creature design.

During the monster’s carnage-filled quest, speed bumps arise, namely a tragicomic “Don’t!” situation involving a tool shed that people can’t seem to steer clear of, but the horrors that befall people there is so well executed that the contrivance is forgiven.

The big finale also requires somewhat of a suspension of disbelief regarding one character’s bravery and combat skills, but the spooky cliffhanger ending helps — as does the writing team’s intelligent doling out of additional information regarding how Frank and Aiden came to be in their predicament, details that inspire some of Thomas’ best acting and enhance the material’s emotional impact.

Grade: B-plus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande

(Photo: Kimberley French/Searchlight Pictures)