There was a time when there were few people, and their influence on nature seemed moderate. But soon we grew up in abundance and exploited mother nature uncontrollably. We continue to believe that our actions have no consequences and that climate change is nothing but a myth. Maybe this is one of our biggest misconceptions. That is why art or artists have a duty to reflect human behavior in order to correct our actions before it is too late. In this article, you can read information about the film “Antlers”: how it ends and an explanation of the ending.
What movie Antlers about
The horror movie Antlers begins with a suspicious man being shown to us – Frank Weaver. A sickly-looking man is doing something suspicious with his partner in an abandoned mine near a small town in Oregon. At this time, Frank’s youngest son, Aiden, is waiting in an old car.
Pretty soon it turns out that Frank and his accomplice are drug dealers. And the criminals chose the old and forgotten Greymouth Mine as their temporary shelter and workplace. But then they hear strange sounds – it seems as if a large animal has climbed into the tunnel. And then the lights go out and something strange happens.
Then we are shown that the boy Aiden gets out of the pickup truck and approaches the entrance to the old mine. It is dark inside, the child calls for his father, but he does not respond. But in the darkness, a mysterious something that emits sparks lurks… Aiden, in search of his father, enters the darkness…
Then the following happens. The horror shows gray and dull everyday life in the American outback. School teacher Julia Meadows, the sister of Sheriff Paul Meadows, notices a strange behavior from one of her students. Young Lucas (as it turns out later – the son of Frank Weaver) eschews classmates, does not communicate with anyone and draws terrible pictures that depict brutal murders. Another boy studies the myths and legends of the indigenous peoples of North America.
However, no one is interested in what happens in the life of the obviously tired and exhausted Lucas. Julia begins to get to the bottom of the truth – for example, she comes to his house. But the teacher never finds the boy’s father, Frank. It seems that the house in which they all live is generally empty. In addition, otherworldly sounds come from it.
Next, they show that Julia is trying to draw the headmaster’s attention to what is happening. But the director is not eager to interfere in the affairs of Frank Weaver: everyone in the city knows that after the death of his wife, he became a dangerous type and a drug dealer. Later, Paul tells his sister that he can’t do anything either: he detained Frank many times and put him behind bars, but the court constantly releases the criminal into the wild. And the whole point is that they cannot find justice against him because of the two children he uses as protection from a prison term.
But the point is that Lucas’s behavior is explained quite simply. The thing is, he feeds dead animals… to his infected father and brother. The boy’s relatives returned from the mine as completely different people: something otherworldly and very ancient infected them. Gradually, Frank goes crazy and begins to behave like a wild animal – a similar consideration awaits his youngest son Aiden, who also falls ill or becomes possessed.
In a flashback, it is later shown that when Frank realizes that something is wrong with him and he turns into a monster, he equips himself with a prison in the attic in his house. And he asks the children not to open the door and not to go into the attic in any case. But the bottom line is that when Aiden shows signs of illness, Lucas locks his brother in the attic as well. And then he begins to feed the running wild, insane relatives with corpses. In the meantime, he tries to find a cure for the curse, but to no avail.
In the meantime, we are shown that the police found the body of Frank’s accomplice in the forest – an unknown creature literally tore the man in half and partially ate it. The police assume that a cannibal maniac has wound up in the city. But a North American native descendant and former sheriff suspects the serial killer may actually be a wendigo, a bloodthirsty cannibal spirit of myth, legend, and horror tales.
Along the way, we learn that Julia’s anxiety for the child is an echo of her own psycho-emotional trauma experienced in childhood. The point is that at a young age she was the victim of domestic violence from her father. No specifics. Having matured a little, the girl ran away from home and moved to California. Judging by the behavior, she began to drink. And then the father switched to Paul, the future sheriff of the city. But after unknown tragic events, Julia had to return to her parents’ house. But after the death of the father-tormentor.
At first, Julia suspects that Lucas’ strange drawings and behavior may also be related to his delinquent father’s abuse. In addition, no one had seen his little brother for a long time. But no one suspects that the child is hiding the possessed wendigo Frank at home.
Events are gathering momentum. The principal of the school comes to Lucas’ house – and despite the terrible sounds and the stench of decomposing bodies, he enters the house. A woman goes up to the attic, sees a sick Frank and becomes his next victim. Frank kills the school principal and tries to eat her body – but suddenly transforms into a huge monster with deer antlers on his head. The monster then breaks out of the house. Lucas’ brother – Aiden – disappears after his mutated father.
More and more nightmarish murders are taking place in the city, and the police are finding more and more bodies of the victims of a mysterious mystical ogre. One of the victims of the wendigo is a school bully who mocks Lucas – the boy’s mutated father simply tears him apart. Julia shows Lucas’ frightening drawings to her brother, then, together with Paul, they communicate with the former sheriff. An Indian man tells his brother and sister the legend of the wendigo and is surprised that such pictures could be drawn by a non-indigenous child.
What happened in Julia Meadows’ childhood?
Julia Meadows returned to Cispus Falls after 20 years and moved into her family home where she lived with her brother Paul. During the conversation, it was established that Julia returned only after the death of her father.
Julia and Paul lost their mother as children. After her death, Julia’s alcoholic father began to exploit her. In one scene, it is explained that Julia was hiding under the kitchen floor to protect her from her father’s illegal actions. As soon as she grew up, she fled to California to live away from her father’s shadow. But the trauma continued to haunt her and left a mental scar on Julia. She became an alcoholic. When she returned to Cispus Falls, she tried her best to resist alcohol and stay sober.
Julia channeled her energies into saving Lucas, who she believed was the same parental abuser she was. She resonated with Lucas because, like her, even Lucas lost his mother at a tender age and lived with his father and younger brother.
What was Lucas hiding?
In the opening sequence of the film, Frank Weaver and his youngest son Aiden were possessed by an evil Algoncan spirit named Wendigo. The evil spirit fueled an insatiable hunger in Frank, causing him to eat his partner Kenny Glass.
Once the evil spirit corrupted Frank and Aiden, they returned home. Perhaps he foresaw the impending horrors and therefore ordered his sons to put him in prison. Aiden soon began to show signs of terror, so Frank took him to his locked room, where they remained hidden from human eyes.
After losing his mother, Lucas did not want to lose his father either. He felt the weight of losing his parents and therefore believed that his new father, possessed by an evil spirit, would love him if he fed him. So Lucas started hunting small animals in the forest and collecting riders to feed the monsters he hid in his house.
Who was the evil being with horns? What did it symbolize?
Nature has its hidden secrets. But as we dig deeper and deeper into the Earth to harness its natural resources, we are awakening spirits that have been dormant for centuries. In her first grade, Julia talked about the importance of storytelling. According to her, it is a means of passing on our customs and beliefs from generation to generation. But if we don’t learn from their local tale, we’ll invite our own doom, which is what happened in the movie.
According to Algonquian legend, the wendigo, depicted in horns, symbolizes human greed. It has become part of folklore as a metaphor warning generations of their insatiable desire and hunger. In the film, a news article talks about lifting environmental regulations and reviving the coal industry. Under the new laws, the Greymouth Mine has been reopened to end the struggle for energy.
Warren Stokes, a retired local sheriff, told Paul and Julia about the Wendigo. This diabolical evil has consumed mankind. According to popular legend, the hunter resorted to cannibalism to survive the cold winter and turned into an evil spirit. The natives believed that the spirit was cursed with eternal hunger and that feasting only increased hunger. It was like a greedy man cutting down tree after tree until he destroyed the entire forest to feed his financial hunger.
Warren told Paul and Julia that ancestral spirits never die and that the opening of the mine probably angered them even more. Frank’s spirit wanted to return to the mines, but not alone. He took Lucas and Aiden with him, which paved the way for the climax.
Antler Ending Explained – Did Pavel Get Infected?
The spirit of the Wendigo joined Frank’s soul, which is why he never ate his sons, Aiden and Lucas. On the contrary, the spirit attacked Lucas’ bully, Clint Owens, and killed him in the woods. For the most part, the spirit remained in control because Lucas fed it animals. But as soon as he consumed Lucas’ executive, Ellen Booth, the power of the spirit took on its most menacing form.
The Wendigo kidnapped Lucas and Aiden and took them to Greymouth Mine. They were followed by the brave Julia and the wounded Pavel. Julia decided to confront the evil spirit and save Lucas at all costs.
Warren Stokes had already informed Julia that feasting made the creature hungrier and weaker. And he could only be killed in a weakened state by attacking his glowing heart. Julia bravely confronted the creature and attacked it while it was feasting on the body of Kenny Glass.
At the end of Antlers, Julia ripped out his heart to kill him. But another tragedy awaited. She learned that Aiden was also possessed and stabbed Aiden in the heart to end the horrors. Lucasa lost both his father and brother, and that was just the beginning of a lifelong trauma.
After the incident, Julia decided to adopt Lucas, but Paul was aware of the boy’s inner scars and feared what he might become in the future. Lucas showed signs of a mental breakdown and Dr. Alan reported the same. He could turn into a cruel monster without being possessed by any spirit, but there was also a silver lining. Julia knew about the emotional abuse and she was the only one who could save Lucas.
However, before dealing with Lucas, Julia had to face another horror. The final sequence showed Paul spitting out black bile and becoming ill, as was Frank. The creature attacked Paul in the barn while he was trying to protect Julia and Lucas. Therefore, he has become infected or possessed, and Julia will probably have to kill his brother. If the fates of Julia and Lucas ran parallel to each other, then due to the fact that Lucas lost Aiden, Julia should have lost Paul. Due to human greed and hunger, two families were destroyed.
What was actually shown in the finale of the horror “Antlers” and how to understand the ending?
After Julia and Paul learn the truth about the wendigo that has lived in the abandoned Greymouth Mine for many years, the creature begins to haunt them. Near the very end of the horror movie Antlers, Julia takes Lucas from the hospital to her home. It should be understood that the woman decides to look after the child and tries to save him from the impending threat. But in the finale, we are shown that the ancient monster that moved into Frank’s former body went hunting and is going to return his son.
At the end they show the following. Lucas believes the wendigo is still Frank Weaver. Therefore, he can return his father’s love if he helps him – and feed the eternally hungry monster well. However, Julia is sure that the child is very scared and completely confused about what is happening.
After a wendigo attacks Dan, a police officer guarding Julia and Lucas, Paul hurriedly returns home. He goes to a barn near his own house and finds Aiden, exhausted and sick, inside. While Julia and Lucas are hiding in the house, Paul is attacked by a wendigo, which easily breaks through the walls of the barn.
During the battle with the demonic creature, Paul receives many injuries (even if in the final they show that the sheriff and Julia’s brother survive). And another creature kidnaps Lucas.
Further, after what happened, Julia and the wounded Paul decide that the monster can only be in one place – and go to the cave in which the wendigo settled. Only Julia is sent to the abandoned mine, because her brother is badly injured and almost passes out in a police pickup truck. Inside the caves and abandoned mine, the main character discovers a mysterious monster that Frank Weaver has turned into. After a short fight, Julia stabs the creature straight through the heart. At the end of the horror, they show that Lucas helps to defeat the wendigo: the boy realized that Julia was in danger, and the creature had nothing to do with his father for a long time. So Lucas stabs the monster’s back with a penknife.
Julia, in spite of everything, cuts out the heart of a wendigo – she kills the creature exactly as ancient legends advise. The monster is dying. But, as the myths of the Indians say, the insane spirit of a hungry wanderer-cannibal moves into a new victim.
At the end of the movie, Antlers reveals that Lucas’ younger brother, Aiden, is now infected. The mysterious red glow clearly indicates this. Julia realizes that she will have to kill the bearer of the evil spirit again in order to save the inhabitants of the city from a mystical threat. And despite the protests of Lucas, the main character completes the ritual of banishing the wendigo.
And even though the ending turned out to be tragic and gloomy, Julia, Paul and Lucas – three orphans of Oregon – were able to stop the bloody harvest of the ever-hungry wendigo cannibal spirit.
But do not rush to relax. In the last minutes of horror show the real ending. Antlers ends with a family outing – Julia, Paul and Lucas walk on the beach in daylight. But the recovering Paul begins to cough – and at the very end, the creators of the horror let us know that now the sheriff is infected with wendigo. An evil spirit possessed Paul when he was waiting for help in the car at the mine – this is opaquely hinted at by the black liquid on his arm. And it turns out that the nightmare will soon repeat…
But how do you really need to understand the ending of the horror movie “Antlers”? Director Scott Cooper explained the meaning of the film in an interview with Inverse .
In fact, “Antlers” tells about the terrible underside of addiction – and any: from drugs, alcohol or tobacco. We are shown for an hour and a half that the criminal and scoundrel Frank Weaver, who turned the lives of his children into a real hell, is slowly but surely turning into an even more terrible monster. So wendigo is in many ways a metaphor for the monstrous transformations that an addicted person goes through. And a demonstration of how he destroys the world around and other people’s lives.
In addition, the second main theme of the film is the depression and hopelessness that modern people experience almost constantly. Scott Cooper tried to look at the situation in the world through the prism of classical American life.
