Mr. Crocket

If you're in for an easy cheesy time with a small portion of gross, this campy horror should be right up your street.

Director Brandon Espy proves to use he has some fairly good taste in horror, taking inspiration from classics such as Nightmare on Elm Street (Dream Warriors and onwards, I'd assume) and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2, with a sprinkle of Candyman, to mash together a familiar yet still original horror experience.

Elvis Norasco brings us Mr Crocket, a candidate for everyone's future nightmares. He delivers the punches with what he was given, and certainly amps up the energy every time he's onscreen. With enough development, he could soon become a horror culture classic (provided we have any sequels on the horizon, of course.)

Jerrika Hilton comes in strong as our leading lady, again giving us the best with what she was given. Her performance is solid from start to finish. Kristolyn Lloyd, in a supporting role, was exceptional, proving that minimal screen time means nothing when you have what it takes.

The practical effects and horror puppetry are both very welcome additions, proving that there's genuine hope for the creative industry, and that CGI doesn't always belong in a horror film. I only wish we'd seen more of it.

The films shortcomings are simple, the writing needed some fine-tuning, some dialogue felt a little basic, and it would have been fun to explore some of the horrors behind the world of Mr Crocket a little better. While I also liked the setting in the early 90s, I could have done with just a tiny bit more 90s nostalgia bait (I'm a sucker for it, what can I say, if you're gonna go 90s, go hard or go home, right?)

Over all, it was a fun experience. I almost wrote it off because of the terrible reviews and I'm glad I didn't. Is it a perfect horror movie? Nope. Will it entertain you if you're bored? Maybe. The only way you'll really know is if you give it a chance, I know I'm glad I did.

⭐⭐⭐(1/2)

This is a solid 7.5. The FX and kill scenes were great with less CGI and more "80s" type FX. The storyline is good and felt fresh. The acting was good, but Mr. Crockett's performance was the best. I also loved the fact that the director/writing didn't use racism as a theme at all. It's almost laughable how in every black horror film the main character has to fight a killer.... And racism. This did not play into the stereotypical storyline of black horror. This will give kids and adults nightmares and if this was made when I was a kid it would have left lasting trauma. As a horror movie this should be an instant classic for this coming generations and I think one that if it doesn't get the love it deserves now, it definitely will in 10 years from now!!!

A Nightmare On Elm Street meets The Ring - except Freddy is a children's show host and the deadly cassette tape is the host's old school public access TV children's show.

There were choices made that prevented Mr. Crocket from being a near-perfect horror romp, but it's still entertaining as hell and has what it takes to become a cheesy annual Halloween staple! It's a hodgepodge of over-the-top horror campiness and gore, emotional family drama, derivative investigation sequences, and a fun yet legitimately menacing villain.

Elvis Nolasco as the titular character 110% knew the assignment and helped create an iconic horror villain! So much so, I feel like the movie would have suffered without Nolasco's self-aware performance. He fully embodies the genuinely innocent children's show host, even in the most frightening scenarios (except for a few moments when it made sense to break away).

Another thing that made this movie worthwhile was its use of practical gore, sets, and puppetry. It made the decades-old children show feel tangible and nostalgic, and really elevated the campy scenes of violence and doom. When digital FX is used, it's cheesy and feels out of place. I could only imagine how amazing it would've been if they instead used analog video manipulation and distorting; this approach would've fit with in the world of the movie and it would've made those scenes much, much scarier.

Considering we're less than a decade into obliterating black tropes in horror, I'm excited to see daring films like this. Script is a little flimsy and probably could have better spent the budget on some production design, but the acting is solid and the story works. The 80's-90's setting, which feels somewhat derivative of Peele, plays well into the surrealism.

Elvis Nolasco delivers on the assignment of his character, borrowing from legendary performances like Gene Wilder's, Wonka and Clarence William's, Mr. Simms. Although he lacks the physicality they both had.

But honestly, the steam escapes pretty quickly and we're left with a soggy, fantasy-horror.

Can't believe some of the bad reviews this movie is getting!

Having grown up in the 90s, I remember the torture of having to watch Barney on repeat as the TV served as a babysitter for my younger sibling, so the premise hits me in the childood.

Mr. Crocket is a psychotic supernatural Mr. Rodgers with a nightmarish dash of PeeWee's playhouse for his realm.

Solid story and practical effects makes for spooky fun reminiscent of a good old school episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark, or a tamer version of Tales from the Hood

Only complaint I have is it's hard to imagine the mom wanting her son Major back as he's a complete and utter ****