Antrum review – creepy 'cursed film' mockumentary emanates eerie power

Enterprising film expertly conjures up a supposedly bewitched Bulgarian horror that has killed all those who have watched it

You probably haven't heard of Antrum, such is the dread and secrecy that surrounds this cursed film". And that's for your own good. Antrum was made in the late 70s and implicated in the mysterious deaths of several film festival programmers and foolhardy horror fans. Now, though, some documentarians have dug up a copy at an estate sale and are sharing it with anyone brave enough to watch.

Or so goes the framing narrative of this part-found-footage-part-mockumentary horror. It would be wonderful to stumble across Antrum with little prior knowledge, in a FrightFest-style festival screening, perhaps, or as a midnight movie in your local cinema: remember back when The Blair Witch Project was still a true story"? Sadly, the pandemic is denying many of us that pleasure, so we might as well openly appreciate the meticulous care that Antrum's Canadian co-directors have put into fabricating the look of a 40-year-old, low-budget Bulgarian curio, utilising effects both technical and psychological.