All the Creatures Were Stirring

Most anthologies I have watched have some that are good and some not so good. This movie was like that. I enjoyed some of them and while the others I didn't enjoy but also didn't hate.

The actors i did a very good job. I thought the theater actors distracted from the stories, just have the couple talk between the short films.

This was one I had been anticipating for along while and after seeing Bloody Disgustings review witch pretty much trashed the film, I really knew I had to give it a watch. And sadly I was a little disappointed. The movie only runs at 80 minutes and contains five stories, all having something to do with Christmas in one way or the other! As normal with anthologies the tales are a mixed bag most suffering from the runtime. The first is a saw-esqe story of a group of office workers forced to play a deadly game, its sadly wasted on a half assed rushed ending. There's also a bizarre tale in which a reindeer gets revenge, and one that plays like a horror redo of A Christmas Carol, the best however is one in which a man stranded in a deserted parking lot meets a very strange van with two girls inside and that's not all. Overall it's ok but nothing really what I was hoping for.

Every holiday season, I like to offset my cookie cutter Hallmark/Lifetime movies with a couple Holiday Horror B movies. Balances it out or something. I've seen some real clunkers and some real gems but Christmas horror movies are especially difficult to get right. This movie however was decent for what it was. Being an anthology film, some segments were of course better than others and the film's limited budget shows but if you enjoy bad movies you'll have a decent enough time here. I found myself wishing that they went a step further to make it pure camp but I wasn't disappointed overall. Anyway grab a beer and have a watch. It definitely isn't the worst of the holiday horrors that's for sure. *No real gore and no nudity.

Horror anthologies are always fun, more stories/themes/characters/styles etc. means there's more to find - to find something for everyone. I love the format, a compilation of short films, often wrapped in what I call the framing segment. "All the Creatures Were Stirring" is surely an entertaining anthology, but also frustrating - to feel the potential and see it executed so poorly. It also makes the mistake of slowly but steadily going downhill only to never get back up.

"All the Creatures Were Stirring" provides six stories (included the wrap-around segment) set during Christmas time, each one has its own plot and characters. Sadly, it's a very inconsistent anthology (like the most of them). Quite a lot of indie talent is involved, majority of the plotlines are (at least mildly) intriguing albeit not exactly original, some have a bit of that Twilight Zone vibe, but, however, the execution gets worse by each segment. The framing segment, about a guy and a gal going on an awkward date to the theatre on christmas eve, started off decently & ended just simply underwhelmingly - the 70 minute filler before that didn't help. Our awkward couple experience five stories, out of which the first two were the best. Decent acting, intriguing little stories, okay-ish cinematography & b-grade special fx. So far so good. The each next is worse than the last. While the interesting themes stay, the execution, excluding maybe acting, is deteriorating, even the technical aspects grow cheaper. As a consequence, pacing suffers greatly and boredom ensues. That's about it. As the credits start rolling, it becomes clear that the creatures stirring will soon be forgotten.

There's better anthologies out there, even the christmas kind, for example, "A Christmas Horror Story" (2015). I most certainly had low expectations, but out of "All the Creatures Were Stirring" 80 minute runtime only about 30 were enjoyable & with that I mean - about average. Nevertheless, it's not a regrettable holiday filler for horror fans. Recommend to everyone who loves his christmas creepy and bloody & is a forgiving movie watcher. My rating: 4/10.

They did this film for fun ,it shows its not gonna win any prizes but it has a twillight zone vibe that makes you go through the whole thing .In the end its an ok weird horror comedy .