Graphic courtesy of MPRM Communications
Rent it. Buy it. Whatever.
Audiences, nevertheless, should know this ahead of time: They may feel that familiar movie-going-rush-to-see-it-again after sitting through it the first time. And that happens the second time. And again if they dare. And so on. And so forth.
Charm (played smartly by Annalise Basso), the daughter of Nurse Faith (played smartly by Chrissy Metz), suffers from a congenital disorder that is most certainly beyond the bounds of human existence. She has all the symptoms of a Wereporcupine, a beast that can scare the bejesus out of any werewolf that has ever graced a TV/Movie screen. Nevertheless, her mother, Nurse Faith, cerebral, medically, with maternal instincts all embracing of her daughter, after numerous home-bound medical experimenting, came up with methadone injections to tranquilize the hideous symptoms though the treatment can’t eliminate the disorder. (Bummer!)
One day, two drifters, Generation Z-Types, Liz played smartly by Scout Taylor-Compton, and Kory played smartly by Connor Paolo, are driven into the single-mom’s family home by a blizzard and beg for help. Nurse Faith, against her better judgement, allows them to stay. Uh oh! {Writer’s Note: Yeah, I’ve used “smartly” several times to describe main characters and that’s because cast is one of the superb features that makes this film a killer.}
A CREATURE is directed – searingly and intensely I have to say – by Filmmaker Damien LeVeck. The screenplay, with cunning maniacal twists and turns and flip flops, is written by Shannon Wells. It’s produced by Natalie LeVeck & Aaron B. Koontz. Well Go USA released LeVeck’s horror movie in select U.S. theaters on December 8th, 2023, then on VOD December 12th – and right now it can be rented on Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV.
{Writer/Editor’s Note: Check here for information about werecreatures.
Rating: R, Some Sexual References, Gory and Bloody Images, Violent
Genre: Holiday, Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Has a Comedic Touch
Original Language: English
Director: Damien LeVeck
Producer: Aaron B. Koontz, Damien LeVeck, Natalie LeVeck, Vladislav Severtsev
Writer: Shannon Wells
Runtime: 1h 20m
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Production Co: Skubalon, Paper Street Pictures
Cinematography by Alexander Chinnici
Editing by Director Damien LeVeck
Music by Mathrew O’Maley
A CREATURE WAS STIRRING Has the Cinematic Panache of a B Movie on Steroids
Don’t pay too much attention to the publicity and marketing that this flick is pretty much a B-Horror Movie with $$$ potential. Take Rotten Tomatoes, for example: As a Christmas blizzard rages outside, Faith, a nurse, keeps her daughter Charm locked in her room, injected with “holiday cheer,” methadone, to sustain a delicately balanced fever–“treatment” for a mysterious affliction. When drifters Kory and Liz break in seeking shelter, they quickly discover that Faith’s relationship with Charm stretches the limits of dysfunction, and both of them are concealing the malevolent fifth house guest lurking in the shadows. Hint: it ain’t Santa.
Rather, potential audiences are better off thinking at the very least that this is a B-Horror Movie on steroids.
Director Damien LeVeck. Picture courtesy of MPRM Communications
This reviewer’s take is this: It’s trailblazing, avant-garde, horror movie beyond “normal” cinematic horror movie dimensions. If not a new, yet to be announce genre or subgenre, nevertheless, it deserves this reviewer’s WWCEA!: WOW-WOW-CAVEAT-EMPTOR-esque-ALERT. It’s a powerful sensory cinematic experience that may be challenging for some viewers as it was for some reviewers.
For example, characters are preternaturally neurotic–narcissistic – or they resonate as preternaturally neurotic–narcissistic. There are scenes that made this reviewer recall old, and I mean old, Dr. Phil’s episodes of dysfunctional families with bizarre dysfunctionalities. And what about old Jerry Springer episodes?
For example, Mom (Nurse Faith) and daughter (Charm) can square off in blistering exchanges. Daughter Charm assails her Mom about whether she loves her and, yet, it’s pretty clear that Mom’s maternal instincts will never allow her to not protect her daughter. Daughter Charm knows that, yet … she has to screech her disbelief.
The kinetically charged group dynamics of the characters is one of the adrenaline drives for this movie. Try to imagine the intense cabin fever experience of a motley crew of surreal neurotic characters with serious narcissistic traits trying to communicate with each other – as well as push the right buttons to manipulate.
A CREATURE WAS STIRRING has more scenes of visceral scares than any in recent memory. There are special effects ranging from scary beyond belief to audaciously mindboggling. And the best that this reviewer can suggest for audiences is that they do what cinema connoisseurs and aficionados do when they are snagged by a move that challenges their perceptions and assumptions: See it again and again for the truth and clarity waiting to be discovered.
Gregg W. Morris can be reached at greggwmorris@comcast.net, profgreggwmorris@gmail.