Movie Review: We Watched Cursed Movie "Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made" and Didn’t Die, So Yay?

Does that mean Antrum works, or that it doesn’t?

You’d think it’d be counterintuitive for a movie to market itself as "The Deadliest Film Ever Made", because word of mouth will be limited if the film keeps killing everyone who watches it.

Thankfully, there’s no such thing in real life as a 'cursed' movie (with the exception of Cats) so you don’t need to worry too much about getting through Antrum alive.

Regardless, writer-directors David Amito and Michael Laicini have concocted an irresistible premise for this low budget horror flick (first released in 2018 and now gaining notoriety in our isolated and content-hungry 2020). It begins as a mockumentary, complete with faux-British voiceover narration, discussing a "lost" feature from 1979 called Antrum that seemed to summon a demonic attack on anyone who sat through it. Believable enough 'experts' comment on Antrum’s reputation and apparent murders (including a spontaneous cinema fire in Budapest), as well as the picture’s plot, which concerns a strange blonde boy and his older sister (also blonde, also strange) digging a hole to hell.

Then, the reveal: the makers of this 'documentary' have found a print of Antrum and will now play it for us in full, though not before showing a legal notice and giving us 30 seconds to turn it off. By staying put, you agree that the producers "are released of all liability for any event that occurs to you during or after your screening including but not limited to illness, injury, mortal danger or death." It’s at this point horror fans—if they’re like me—will lean forward in anticipation. Hell yes.

It’s a mild bummer that Antrum never gets scarier or more exciting than with that 30-second countdown. That said, its ethereal score by Alicia Fricker is spooky enough to stick with you long afterwards. The film within the film is otherwise a convincing and capable creepfest (complete with damaged film stock), equally inspired by The Blair Witch Project as it is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, without nearing either in quality. Rowan Smyth plays the boy who so desperately wants to reunite with his dead dog that he believes his sis—played by an excellent and extremely effective Nicole Tompkins—when she says they can recover its soul from hell. (That’s where their mother said the pup was sent; I guess not all dogs go to heaven.) They head into woodlands modelled on Japan’s "suicide forest", and even encounter a Japanese man attempting seppuku. (Who knows where it’s set. The actors speak English, yet the credits are in Cyrillic.) There, they dig through the five layers that will lead them to Satan’s lair. With each breached layer, they find themselves tormented by otherworldly demons, some in human form, others very much not. Honestly, no dog is worth this. Except maybe Uggie. I'm coming for ya, boy!

This is a lot to process, but Amito and Laicini don’t stop there. As we learn in the opening 'doco', the print of Antrum they’ve recovered has been tampered with, and an unknown third party has overlaid satanic inscriptions and interjections of people being tortured in a toilet block. It’s meant to keep you off-balance, and never quite sure when the slow-burn Antrum will be interrupted by this startling footage. In practice, however, it’s a hat on a hat on a hat; an added layer of 'meta' to impress you and not actually frighten you. The fact that the filmmakers add another explanatory 'documentary' to the end of Antrum indicates they were never sure when to back off and let the mystery fester in viewers’ minds. There’s no reason to run to reddit afterwards because Antrum already explains everything to you. (The Blair Witch Project would never.) No wonder most of the convos about Antrum online involve whether or not it’s really cursed… and to that all we can say is: guys.

I suppose you have to respect how extra Antrum is. In a way, its biggest problem is that Amito and Laicini have too many good ideas here. And really, they’re doing the exact same thing the Blair Witch, Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the Paranormal Activity franchises did, by expanding out a mythology from its unvarnished, humble origins. They just get it all over with in 95 minutes (including any interest in further explanation or excavation). Horror’s meant to leave you wanting more. Antrum literally keeps going past two 'ending' cards. My dudes, when you’ve made the sale, stop selling.

3/5

Antrum is now available to buy or rent digitally on Google Play and YouTube.