10 Rotten Tomatoes Scores For 2021 Movies NOBODY Saw Coming
4. Antlers (59%)
The case of the recently-released horror film Antlers truly is strange one.
Despite its relatively low budget, Antlers was one of the most steadfast pandemic holdouts, refusing to forego a theatrical release in favour of a streaming drop, to the extent that it was delayed more than 18 months from its original April 2020 release date.
To many, this suggested that Searchlight Pictures knew they had a banger on their hands, and with writer-director Scott Cooper's (Crazy Heart, Black Mass) involvement in addition to a killer cast led by Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons, it was easy to believe that Antlers was far more than your typical supernatural horror flick.
Considering how long the distributor held onto it without dumping it on streaming, a 90+% Tomatometer seemed entirely possible, with more optimistic commentators even suggesting there could be awards buzz for Russell and Plemons.
But alas, Antlers released to wildly mixed reviews, rocking a mediocre 59% as critics struggled to reconcile the film's heightened genre elements with its more grounded depiction of domestic abuse.
It's certainly one of the year's more interesting horror films, though not one that entirely achieves its lofty goals.