As you'd expect from a creature-feature executive produced by king of creepy movies Guillermo del Toro, the design of the Wendigo in Antlers is terrifying. The film itself is on a Native American legend that tells of a ravenous, cannibalistic spirit which jumps from person to person like a virus, forcing them to feed on prey before bursting out of them like useless shells. So for something like that you obviously need something gruesome: how about a seven foot monster with a titular crown of antlers, no eyes, and razor-sharp teeth?
A new featurette outlines how the Wendigo design was brought together, from concept to construction, and it looks like del Toro was there for the lion's share of the journey. "One of the main reasons that I decided to do this film was because of Guillermo," says Scott Cooper, the director of Antlers, in the video. "It's really impressive to see the different phases of the transformation - the stuff of nightmares," laughs co-star Jesse Plemons. "It's definitely in line with Guillermo's creation," star Keri Russell concurs.
Cooper elaborates further on del Toro's creative input on Antlers, describing where he vision comes from, and his "encyclopaedic knowledge" of all things monstrous:
"Guillermo has an extremely unique perspective on monsters and how to create them, almost unlike anyone else. He really has a child-like exuberance in creating these particular creatures, because he has such an encyclopaedic knowledge about almost every creature that's ever been made, that he wants to feel wholly unique, and wholly unique to this project, and what it feels like on a metaphorical level. And no detail is too small."
Del Toro has his own say on his creative approach to the Wendigo, too, focusing on the "ornamental" antlers of the beast - and why, like the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, he wanted it to be blind. "One of the great representations of the king of the forest, is the crown of antlers on a stag - and [we] tried to find a symmetry that was almost ornamental in the antler design. I suggested we blind the eyes... because blind rage. It's inhuman," the director says.
If you didn't catch it in theaters over the Halloween season, the supernatural spooky releases on digital platforms from December 21, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release in the New Year (January 4, specifically). Check out the featurette below.