Director: David Amito, Michael Laicini
Writer: David Amito (Screenplay) David Amito, Michael Laicini (Story)
Starring: Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth, Dan Istrate, Circus-Szalewski, Shu Sakimoto, Kristel Elling
Plot: A young boy and girl enter the forest to dig a hole to hell. Said to be a cursed film from the late 1970s, Antrum examines the horrifying power of storytelling.
Tagline – The Deadliest Film Ever Made.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made starts as we get the warning about a mythical film named Antrum whose only screening saw the cinema burning down killing everyone in the auditorium. Now someone has finally got footage of the original film, which follows Oralee (Tompkins) and Nathan (Smyth) as they head into a forest to say their final goodbyes to their pet.
Once they complete this, they find themselves dealing with different demons that might be inside the forest, as it become clears something is tracking them.
Thoughts on Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made
Characters – Oralee is the older sister who is trying to help her little brother deal with the loss of their dog, she takes him to a forest which should help the passing, only here she will need to use her determination to stay ahead of the game, first by using the demon stories to trick Nathan, secondly to keep him alive against the dangerous threat lurking in the forest. Nathan is the younger brother who is distraught over the death of his beloved dog Maxine and will believe any of the stories Oralee tells him, he wants Maxine back and doesn’t understand what has caused her death and starts to believe evil is coming for them.
Performances – Nicole Tompkins in the leading role is great to watch, she brings the protective older sister to life, while mixing the desperation of trying to protecting and hiding her own grief for the pet loss from him. Rowan Smyth does bring the innocence of the his character to life, even if certain parts can become annoying at times.
Story – The story here follows a pair of siblings that go into a forest which is meant to have a connection to the devil to try and help rescue their lost dog’s soul, only for the journey to be filed with terror. This is a very unique idea for found footage movie, the idea involved is that this is a lost movie that has been considered cursed has finally be found and is being shown, we have the documentary feel either side of the main story, showing how to break down a movie, which does give this one of the most interesting uses of found footage, making us truly believe this could be a lost film, with the style everything is shot in. when it comes to the core story, it mixes the idea of demons and real-life together well, showing how grief can take over, though it does have one major weakness, which could be a spoiler, so we won’t get into that one.
Horror – The horror in this film comes from the world we are transported into, knowing this film could be cursed and seeing what the siblings go through has moments of true terror.
Settings – Most of the film is set in the forest, it has plenty of mystery about it, which will see the strange event start to occur for the siblings.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are used more to make the film feel like it was made in the late 1970s, this gives us more reason to believe this is a real lost movie discovered at last.
Scene of the Movie – The Documentary around the movie, adds a lot to this movie.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – A language barrier?
Final Thoughts – This is a very unique found footage that is one of the most realistic concepts behind anyone I have seen before, giving the film more terror than you would expect.
Antrum will be in UK Cinemas from 23rd October, and then DVD & Digital Download from 26th October
