Antlers

 

Antlers

2021

Director- Scott Cooper

Cast- Keri Russell, Jeremy T. Thomas, Jesse Plemons, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Amy Madigan, Rory Cochrane, Sawyer Jones

            This modern day folk horror centers on the Wendigo, a malevolent entity from the mythology of the native peoples of North America. If you are unfamiliar with the Wendigo, its folklore usually involves cannibalism; it drives people to eat the flesh of others or people become the Wendigo after eating the flesh of others.

            This story takes place in a dying Oregon town where drug addiction and poverty are slowly eating it away. The film begins with a meth manufacturer being attacked by a monster in in his meth lab housed in an abandoned coal mine. His 12 year old son, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas,) finds his father and takes him home. His father begins to change and Lucas is burdened with keeping this secret while finding ways to satisfy his degenerating father’s hunger for meat.

            But this secret can’t stay hidden for long. Lucas’ teacher (Keri Russell) can tell that something is wrong with Lucas and starts nosing around in Lucas’ life. Meanwhile, people are disappearing around town and later their bodies are found mangled and partially devoured. The only person who seems to know what’s happening is the town’s old retired sheriff (played by Graham Greene). He is familiar with the lore of the Wendigo, but of course no one takes him seriously.

            Antlers is a pretty serious film. It doesn’t have any of the humor or light hearted moments that horror films often use to give breaks in the tension. It starts off grim and ends that way. The sky is always grey, the ground is wet and the leaves are falling off of the trees.

 

Addiction figures prominently in the story. The film doesn’t hit you over the head with it, but it pops up all through the film in the background; Lucas’ dad making meth, references to people getting narcaned, radio broadcasts about opiate addiction, people standing in line at a methadone clinic, an alcoholic staring longingly at a wall of bottles. Graham Greene’s description of the Wendigo even sounds rather like addiction when he says that the more it eats, the hungrier it gets. Lucas’ denial about his father’s condition and his attempts to hide it from others seem very much like the classic codependent in an addicted family. Along with this, poverty, child abuse and neglect also figure prominently into the background of the story. With all of these depressing themes, the monster and the gory murders almost seem like a relief from the grim tone of the film.

The film was shot in late 2018 with an early 2020 release planned. But like everything else in the world, its release kept getting pushed back by Covid-19. It has finally arrived just in time for Halloween weekend, 2021. I think this was probably for the best anyway. The film’s grey skies and leaf covered grounds feel right for a dreary Fall day.

Don’t watch this if you’re looking for a light hearted distraction while munching on some snacks. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for some folk horror that sticks with you after the film is over, Antlers is worth your time.

I Drink Your Blood

 

 

I Drink Your Blood

1971

Director- David E. Durston

Cast- Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadin Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, Arlene Farber, Lynn Lowry

            Rabid Satanists; that sums up the plot of this film in 2 words. It’s an idea so bizarrely funny, I can’t believe no one had thought of it before!

            A cult of Satanic, LSD tripping hippies breaks down on the side of the road and takes refuge in a nearby rural community that’s on its way to becoming a ghost town. The cult is headed by Horace Bones (great name!), a charismatic, Manson-inspired, autocrat.

 

   

            The cult holds up in an abandoned house where they go about torturing one of their own members for kicks. The town’s apparent patriarch, an old man who happens to be the town veterinarian, sticks his nose into their business and gets beat up. If you ask me, he got off light. If horror movies have taught me anything, its to stay away from hippies. The old man’s grandson decides to take revenge.

            The kid works at the only remaining store in town, where the Satanists have been buying their groceries (the Prince of Darkness doesn’t supply everything you know!). The kid kills a rabid dog, drains its blood, and injects that blood into meat pies sold to the Satanists. I have to say, that’s a pretty devious plot. Maybe that kid missed his calling and should have joined up with the hippies.

            The Satanists partake of the tainted meat pies and soon show signs of infection. In short order they become rabid, murderous maniacs that start killing each other and the locals. At one point, one of the female Satanists goes down to the local mining camp for a gang bang which results in a whole bunch of rabid miners (no, rabies it’s not sexually transmitted, lol).

            The movie is silly in places as its depiction and description of rabies is laughably inaccurate. However, since the hippies were also on acid, I guess we can chalk up any inaccuracies to that. Besides, if you’re watching I Drink Your Blood as prep for your microbiology exam, I guess you’re already in trouble.

            The movie was released as part of a double feature with I Eat Your Skin (a previously unreleased zombie film that had its name changed for the purpose of creating a memorable double billing). It has developed a cult following and despite any shortcomings, has a lot to recommend it.

 

            About 30 years before “diversity” became a buzzword, the Satanic cult in this film was made of brown, black, white, east  Asian, and Indian members (I guess Satan has always been egalitarian). Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury’s performance as Horace the cult leader is very good. He has Hollywood level good looks and you have to wonder why he never went on to a bigger career. There is some memorable gore that looks pretty convincing. Animal rights advocates may want to skip the film. There are a few scenes involving animals and given the film’s age and low budget, I assume they were using the real thing. If you can handle that, I Drink Your Blood is a fun addition to your grindhouse collection.

Fun fact- Scream Queen Lynn Lowry made her film debut in this movie as the sexiest member of the hippie cult. Two years later she would star in George Romero’s The Crazies (another movie about people driven homicidal by an infection) and then two years later she would star in yet another film about homicidal infection, David Cronenberg’s Shivers.

The Hexecutioners

 

 

The Hexecutioners

2015

Director- Jesse Thomas Cook

Cast- Liv Collins, Sarah Power, Timothy Burd, Tony Burgess

            So right off the bat lets acknowledge that Hexecutioners is not a very good name. Sounds like the title of a GWAR song. Now that that’s out of the way we can talk about the movie which is actually pretty original.

 

            The film operates under the premise that euthanasia is now legal across the land. Malison (Liv Collins) is a lowly technician who gets dispatched to carry out the life ending procedures.  She had aspirations that it would be a dignified way to end people’s suffering but she soon runs into the degrading realities of profitable death. Her bosses are less concerned with dignity than the bottom line.

            To cure her of her naiveté, she is paired with Oliva (Sarah Power), a cynical technician who isn’t above skipping the niceties and ending her client’s lives with a bullet to the head.

 

   

            They are sent out to the country to take care of a special client; a millionaire who has paid a hefty sum to have his death carried out in a very specific manner. The client, horribly disfigured, seems to be almost catatonic. Their only other human contact is Edgar (Timothy Burd), the lone care taker and servant. The women find that they have been lured into a house haunted by cursed spirits and they are now unwilling participants in an elaborate occult ritual.

            Hexecutioners is a character driven story that focuses on the personalities of the two women and their relationship. It has a small cast which allows for plenty of character development. It’s a competent horror film that seems informed in regards to its occult elements. There’s no attempt at a happy ending so don’t expect one.

  

The Devil Rides Out

  

 

The Devil Rides Out

1968

Director- Terrence Fisher

Cast- Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower, Sarah Lawson, Paul Eddington

            With absolutely no amount of hyperbole I can say that this is one of the best occult movies ever made. The Devil Rides Out (billed as The Devi’s Bride in the U.S.) is intelligent and suspenseful. It takes the subject of magic seriously and seems well informed. Despite centering around a Satanic cult it never detours into the lurid or sensationalistic. In short, like The Ninth Gate, this is an occult movie for the thinking person. But don’t think it’s dry or slow. It moves at a good pace, keeps the viewer’s attention and has memorable imagery. This is a horror classic brought to you by Hammer, the masters of horror.

            Two old friends (Christopher Lee and Leon Greene) discover that the son of a dead friend has gotten himself involved with a Satanic cult led by a powerful magus (played wonderfully by Charles Gray). Conflict ensues when they try to prevent their young friend from going through with his Satanic baptism.

 

 

            Most folks would say that Dracula was Christopher Lee’s best role but I think it was this. He plays the Duke de Richleau, an aristocrat with no small amount of occult knowledge, kind of like an upper class John Constantine. Lee looks rather satanic himself with his goatee but he goes against type as the hero. He is so charismatic and intense that you can’t take your eyes off of him.

            Charles Gray’s portrayal of the cult leader is strong. He is obviously an Aleister Crowley figure but plays it very dapper. He pushes the evil to almost Bond-villain levels but doesn’t make it cartoonish. He seems to be smiling to himself no matter what horror is occurring. At one point, after being rebuffed by a family guarding an escapee from his cult, he says, quite charmingly “I shall not return. But something will. Tonight.”

 

        

    

    Nike Arrighi is also good as the young girl caught up in the cult. She is a sympathetic character who seems to have resigned herself to the eventual loss of her soul. She had a small appearance in another Hammer film, Countess Dracula.

            The film is based on the 1934 novel of the same name, by Dennis Wheatley. Though Wheatley wrote a lot of spy novels he was also very knowledgeable of the occult. His book, The Devil and All His Works is an excellent survey of occult lore through the ages. No less than three of Wheatley’s novels became Hammer films including the similarly themed To the Devil a Daughter (which also starred Lee but as the villain). The other, Uncharted Seas, was filmed by Hammer as The Lost Continent.

 

            If you want an intense, well-crafted thriller then you’ll enjoy The Devil Rides Out. Its imagery will stick with you. Two moments in particular stand out. The first is the summoning of the Devil, which appears as a goat headed man presiding over a cult of worshipers.  The other is the appearance of the Angel of Death as a black knight on a winged horse. It’s a good companion piece to another British occult thriller, Night of the Demon. Of interest to metal fans, the film's poster was the inspiration for the album cover for Witchcult Today, by the English band, Electric Wizard.