Hope’s latest horror movie will not be premiering this week after all.
Guillermo del Toro’s “Antlers”, which was shot in Hope in fall of 2018, is now scheduled to premier in October 2021. It was originally slated for April 17 of last year but it was erased from the release calendar due to the pandemic. It was delayed until next Friday, Feb. 19, but it has now been delayed again until Oct. 29, apropos of Halloween.
The 99-minute movie takes place in the isolated Oregon town of Cispus Falls (played by Hope), where teacher Julia Meadows (played by Keri Russell) and her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, grow worried about young Lucas Weaver (Jeremy T. Thomas), an enigmatic student who seems to be hiding terrifying encounters with a mysterious, legendary ancestral creature.
Producer J. Miles Dale was drawn to Hope due to its moody natural setting, the quaint, small-town look and proximity to Vancouver, the heart of Hollywood North. The sometimes gloomy weather in the fall was perfect for this tale of nature getting its revenge on mankind by raining horror and chaos on the small town.
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The movie is based on the short story “The Quiet Boy” by Nick Antosca. “Antlers” draws on the Algonquin myth of the windigo, a monster that kills and eats its victims, who are often weak and socially disconnected. According to most versions of the legend, a human transforms into a windigo when their spirit is corrupted by greed or weakened through extreme hunger or cold. It’s then that they are possessed by a prowling spirit.
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