Antrum is One of the Most Ingenious Horror Films Ever Made

Antrum is the only film I’ve ever sincerely warned people against watching. I didn’t do so because of how terrifying the film is (though I certainly do find it beautifully unnerving), but instead because of the film’s unique and potentially offensive/dangerous gimmick.

Antrum isn’t just a film about the occult, it’s a simulation of an occult working in and of itself — something many are sure to feel makes it an actual occult working (are we splitting hairs here, Donny?).

I’m about to spoil the fuck out of this film, so all ye readers who don’t want such spoiling had best shuffle along now.

Antrum is a film within a film. The shell film is a “documentary” of interviews with people talking about the deadly history of a lost (fictional) film named Antrum, which supposedly has caused death and destruction wherever it’s been shown.

The documentary shell film bookends the central film, appearing as the opening and the closing of the complete Antrum product.

During the first part of the documentary portion, I found myself ready to stop the film and keep searching. I’m not a fan of the fictional documentary style subgenre, and I assumed the result of this one would be the…