A Creature Was Stirring

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The heading pretty much sums up this movie. I just didn't really care for the way the movie unfolded. The movie had promise and did grab my attention almost immediately, but I did find that my interest was becoming weaker the more the movie progressed. I did not feel the movie gave me the excitement as much as the trailer had given. The plot twist at the end was horrible, in my opinion, and left me feeling like I had been dragged behind a truck for an hour. I was not in a good place when this had finished and I felt I lost my $5.99 in renting. However, there were some positives. The creature effects, when in the shadows, were nicely done although I was underwhelmed once the creature made its presence known. Also, the condition of the daughter was intriguing, but I felt as though I did not understand why or how her condition was occurring. I could have forgiven the pace of the movie, which was on the slow side, had the ending not angered me so much. Probably not worth anyone's time, although this review is just my opinion. Save yourself and just call the trailer good enough.

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.

A Creature Was Stirring (aKa Good Luck, Nightingale) is a 2023 Christmas horror film edited, produced, and directed by Damien LeVeck (Dark, Deadly, & Dreadful, Asylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales, and The Cleansing Hour). It was written by Shannon Wells. Faith (played by: Chrissy Metz from This is Us, American Horror Story, Muppets Haunted Mansion, and Breakthrough) keeps her troubled teenage daughter Charm (played by: Annalise Basso from Ouija: Origin of Evil, Captain Fantastic, Slender Man, and Oculus) on a tightly controlled regimen of experimental drugs, their only means of fending off a mysterious, terrifying affliction. After two burglars Liz (played by: Scout Taylor-Compton from the Halloween franchise, April Fool's Day, Feral, Wicked Little Things, Charmed, The Runaways, and They turned us into Killers) and Kory (played by: Connor Paolo from Alexander, Friend Request, Stake Land, World Trade Center, and Revenge) attempt to rob their home on Christmas, they stumble upon a long-kept family secret with monstrous consequences. They should have picked a different place for their home invasion. Will they survive the night???? A Creature Was Stirring is a hybrid of the home invasion and Christmas horror sub-genres. This holiday horror feature kinda flew under the radar last year and I honestly didn't hear much about it. A Creature Was Stirring turned out to be a nice surprise. It has a really good script from first time writer Shannon Wells. Lots of twists and turns in this one so pay attention closely. It goes from a thriller to a horror movie pretty quick here. It's basically a 4 person feature so every actor here brings their A-Game in this independent production. Chrissy Metz goes against her typecast from her very popular television series and she really displays her acting chops in this low budget flick. Annalise Basso is very mysterious until the finale. I enjoyed the build up for her character. Scout Taylor-Compton and Connor Paolo play siblings at the wrong place at the wrong time. They bring a different vibe to the story besides the isolated family that we see before they are there. They have excellent chemistry together. It's great to see Scout Taylor-Compton doing lots of horror recently. The special fx and the monster are very impressive in A Creature Was Stirring especially for it's modest budget. Director Damien LeVeck keeps busy here with multiple jobs on the shoot. His nightmare visuals really elevate this one. It kept me entertained and it keeps you on your toes with all the surprises until the very end. Hopefully, it gets more love on home video. This showed be considered for any upcoming Christmas horror watch list, RECOMMEND!!!!

I watched this movie until the end just to see how bad it could be ! This is the worst infuse Christian idea movie possible ! The fact that they make the parallel between use of drugs and demon and this old trick that love for christ gonna save you is absolutely disgusting because they put the idea that medicine and mental health is not going to save you! I´m not talking about the extremely poor "scenario" or bad acting or bad lighting ... Most of the actions and decisions of the character are completely undeliverables and go against all logic. I am a big believer that it is possible to make a good movie, specially horror with a very small budget... here it is not the case.

The movie starts off alright with some nice subtle mystery as to what Charm her condition is. When the unlikeable brother and sister break into the house, the story quickly delvoves in to something that was clearly meant to create tension, but doesn't really do that. It is clear that through out the 2nd and 3rd act they tried to setup for the twist in the last 5 minutes, (more about that later) Basso once again acts well, and i feel the role she plays fits her well and could mean she could be a great antagonist in other movies. As it seems to become more and more like a creature feature, the rule of "the less you see the scarier it is" gets tossed out, The monster looks decent enough but just doesnt wow me (the as far as i could see practical effects though of Charm's transformation. Were stellar though. Now that you read all this... i have to adress the elephant in the room and tell him about that twist... ENDING SPOILERS AHEAD: So in the end we find out, it was ALL in faiths mind, shes a mother with Munchausen (by proxy?) Syndrome, and this "Mysterious condition" therefor doesn't exist. The brother and (sickly annoying religious) Sister that broke in, are just figments of people she saw in the 1990's where she had the brother OD on drugs. So why she remembered them and manifested them?, Nobody knows. So when the sister flees outside we learn its actually Charm going outside as she is sick of her mother delusions. Why she did this in a deadly blizzard...nobody knows. Then there is that drawing of Charm frozen to death in the position we see her at the end of the movie. Euhm What? Did she know? Or was it something Faith Drew ? Its never made clear what it was about. And then Charm's corpse, its found frozen a week after faith "pulled her from the dark like she promised" And Nobody is Questioning Faith? Or consoling her? I mean ...what? That makes no sense what so ever. Sure the final shot that Faith is the porcupine monster, was a well made shot... but was not needed, and then the part before it, she felt bad at first but then she didnt feel bad anymore as she saw the drawing. I am sorry to say it, but if you want to go, "IT was all in her head" the scenes you show need to make sense, the story beats we are shown need to make sense, and they really don't do that. The subject material could make for a good story, but this aint that.

Lots of talk, lots of incoherent nonsense, a creature that resembles a hairy shadow, completely unbelievable story lines (where they existed at all - much of the action appeared to be quite random with no clear reason, motive or explanation), extensive periods when nothing much happens at all, it has a sleep inducing quality that is about as far away from an effective horror film as it's possible to get. Computer generated graphics used well can produce astounding, engaging films when used in conjunction with a good story, believable characters and intelligent production. Unfortunately, this film failed on all fronts.

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.