OK – be afraid, be very afraid – NOT!!!
There are horror films that have passed into legend over decades – and then there is ANTRUM. When a movie proclaims itself to be ‘THE DEADLIEST FILM EVER MADE’ as this one does, a perceptive reputation proceeds it – and it had better live up to the expectation.
OK, before I delve into the more critical analysis of the film, the plot. A kid brother and elder sister head into the woods and dig a hole to hell. The brother is grieving over the recent death of the family dog and the sister tells of bad things in the woods. Then bad things happen….
That is the long and short of the film’s synopsis (I won’t go into what it resembles, as you will know and sense what it looks like in terms of other examples of the genre.)
So, you might be asking, what is the whole context of it being ‘THE DEADLIEST FILM EVER MADE’?
So here goes.
Up to a point, after completion to final edit, horror films have to generate a reputation in their marketing to get the film out, but it is down to the audience and subsequent fans to create the fandom and following that a film generates on its’ journey to becoming a potential classic
The more knowledgeable horror fans amongst you who are reading this are aware and will know that films like THE EXORCIST, HALLOWEEN, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE THING have generated a deserved buzz about their very content and scare potential – and we could also add Ruggero Deodato’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST which forty years after its’ original cinematic release can still be regarded as the ultimate video nasty based on its’ generative power even today as the most influential found-footage film of all time, influencing the likes of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CLOVERFIELD and REC / QUARANTINE amongst others.
However, if you feel that I am being a little too critical, there is one plus here. On a technical level, the visual style is very admirable and shot in a GRINDHOUSE-type way to make it look like a classic 1970s film that, as we learn in the opening pre-film documentary, caused a cinema in Budapest to burn down, killing the attendants.
We learn that the film was rejected by film festivals and caused the death of people shortly after (a la THE RING, anyone!?) The visual look and style is the best thing about this film, but no film can and should succeed primarily on its’ visual flair. Character, plot and script are the core essentials and virtues of a good film, regardless of genre or market potential – and the performances are OK, but not award-potential.
Another thing that relegates ANTRUM is that at least three classic horror films, THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN and POLTERGEIST have a terrifying mystique about their creation (the plane that crashed during the filming of THE OMEN, the deaths around THE EXORCIST and POLTERGEIST which were proclaimed as coincidence rather than curse) There is even a new documentary called CURSED FILMS which examines this.
If of course you want to embrace the validity of the intent, then I am sure you will think of this movie a lot higher than I did, which in some ways is clearly a very slick (yes, I said slick, not sick!) joke on the audience, but you don’t need to do that to get the right reaction. Also, people will see pretty quickly through this, as film-maker ideas and techniques have become much slicker and smarter over the decades. A clue to the potential of the film is the fact the film has been around for two years.
The pity is that there is a much more imaginative and intriguing idea at the centre of this film which would work a lot better, focusing on the reputation of the faux-film amongst critics and fans and how that worked. Anyone who saw WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE can see one such example – and ANTRUM could have been so much more.
Unfortunately, audiences and fans will have to make do with this.
