Criatura Infernal

A middle aged mother and her teenage daughter have shut themselves in their home- over Christmas- to ride out a blizzard...when two home invaders break in.

The brother and sister claim they were just trying to escape the cold...and convince the woman to let them stay.

However, little do they know what they've walked in upon.

Though...they're about to find out.

And, I assure you, it's not going to be anything you, they, or anyone else is suspecting.

Because it's quite the trip.

And not one of the good kinds, either.

The whole thing is super weird.

And plays out rather cryptically.

Leaving you to wonder if it's just an incredibly bizarre situation...or actually some sort of psychedelic odyssey into the absurd.

Either way...it's quite twisted.

Not to mention wholly and completely original.

But I must say...I loved every minute of it.

If only because it's super friggin' weird.

I won't give away what the "creature" is in this particular case...because you'll never guess (even though the poster hints at it)...and finding out is half the fun.

So just give it a watch.

And get ready to get weird.

6 out of 10.

So, trying to be spoiler free, the movie is just strange. The acting leaves a lot to be desired. The lighting reminds me of the George Clooney Batman. Some of the effects are fun, as I really do like practical effects over CGI. There are just too many holes in the end. There's an attempt to wrap it all up, but it just can't make up for all the questions. Some of the questions were happening as I watched. Others came at the end. I'm not trying to blast the movie, as it does have a fun quality, but it certainly isn't one I'll be watching again. Also, I feel compelled to do a review, because with the rating currently an 8/10 at the time of me writing, I think I'm trying to set some realistic expectations for future watchers.

Not a comedy buy you could not tell by watching. If you have at least 4 beers in you then it is somewhat enjoyable.

Gets a 4 because the 2 lead actresses are very good and did a superb job with a trash script. Annalise Basso is also very hot and good eye candy. So a 4.

The story is piecemeal and the script varies from ok to laughable. Some lines make sense, some do not. I do give them .25 point for an original creature, not seen in any other horror movie.

However, it is ruined by the cgi. It is sub par. Like paper mache subpar. They had zero cgi talent.

There is a plot twist that they get kudos for, and gives the movie a tiny ammount of validty.

The majority of this movie is surprisingly decent for a low budget, one-location film. Aesthetically the house looks pretty good (aside from some weird lighting choices), the actors all perform adequately, and the entire thing slowly builds up into a seemingly layered and interesting mystery.

While not terribly exciting, I enjoyed the slow progression as the scope of the mystery expanded and we see the characters do stranger and more intense things. I felt like they did a good job making every character seem shady to where a variety of major twist(s) could be plausible and applicable to any (or all) of them, and I was genuinely curious to find out how everything was interconnected.

The creature aspect of the movie is done well considering the film's limitations. You do actually see it from time to time and there are some genuinely creepy practical effects used for it. There is some cheesy stuff too (both in terms of effects and scene where the creature is present), but it doesn't ruin it. Honestly, I wish they had just done a straight creature-feature with the creature being a central character/villain instead of the whole "mystery" aspect where you don't know if the creature is real or not, and I would've liked them to cut out some of the various other things going which reduce the focus on the creature and give ol' spiny some more screen time.

All the serious problems with the film come from the ending. The entire thing is very obviously building to a major reveal which should explain all the weirdness that the audience has been witnessing. Unfortunately, the ending fails COMPLETELY.

It feels like they were writing the story as they went and didn't have an ending in mind but thought "eh, we'll figure it out when we get there". Then the time came and they still didn't have anything that could adequately explain things, so they instead opted for something easy and generic which fails to actually line up with anything that was introduced in the movie.

The ending is cliché and a total cop-out. If you like to try to predict twists than you will absolutely have thought of this but likely dismissed it due to how dumb and nonsensical it would be.

The problem is that the ENTIRE movie hinges on the cleverness of the reveal, and the lame reveal actually ruins, or at least makes insignificant, everything else that happened in the movie. When you go back to the scenarios that played out and take the reveal into account everything actually makes LESS sense and gives the impression it was all a bunch of arbitrary stuff that the writer thought looked or sounded good at the time but doesn't actually tie in or interconnect. Instead of tying things up or providing an explanation, it just introduces a bunch of questions and plot holes.

It's a shame about the ending; this was a solid 5-6 for most of its duration, but, as I stated, the ending makes literally every other aspect of the movie worse, so it's impossible to give it a good overall rating. Worth a watch if you've run out of other horror, but don't have any great expectations.

I have to say that the movie's title and its cover/poster was initially what lured me to pick up this movie. Sure, I had never heard about "A Creature Was Stirring" prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2023, so I didn't know what I was in for here, aside from it being a horror movie.

Writer Shannon Wells put together a rather interesting and enjoyable script and storyline for director Damien LeVeck to bring to life on the screen. And director Damien LeVeck certianly did bring the movie to life in an enjoyable and entertaining manner. I like how the storyline keeps the audience in the dark, letting us guess as to what is really going on throughout the course of the movie.

The acting performances in the movie were good. And while the movie had a very small cast ensemble, the actresses and actors on the cast list did put on convincing performances and carried the movie quite nicely. I was especially impressed with the performance of Chrissy Metz, playing Faith. I wasn't familiar with anyone on the cast list, and that is something I enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie.

Visually then "A Creature Was Stirring" certainly was interesting, and the creature design and effects were good. Sure, they weren't over-the-top impressive, but they definitely served the purpose of the movie well enough.

However, I have to say that the ending of the movie, well the last five minutes or so, were sort of anti-climatic and felt somewhat like a slap to the face of the audience, as if the writer and director had to round things up on the fly.

All in all, a watchable and enjoyable horror movie, though it is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of "A Creature Was Stirring" lands on a five out of ten stars.