Ho-Ho-Horror! A Rubber Monster Review of 'A Creature Was Stirring'
Plus TWO new book launches and a holiday playlist!
Holy Holiday Horror! The following was recently featured on Shudder/AMC+ and looked like just the kinda junk flick that we love to watch.
A Creature Was Stirring (2023)
I mean, look at that poster! It could be the silhouette of a snow-chupacabra (we’re gonna make that a thing, mark my words), and it has a moderately recognizable name from other horror shlock, Scout Taylor-Compton (she played Laurie Strode in the Rob Zombie Halloween movies, and has a ton of other B-movie creds). I was hooked.
The movie doesn’t waste any time getting right to the monster-y point of it all: a mother (Faith) and her daughter (Charm) are trapped in their house during a blizzard, and…*checks notes*…have to keep Charm’s temperature between 103-104.4°F. We’ve all seen enough horror movies to assume that she’s probably gonna look a little like that movie poster if mommy can’t keep her in that sweet spot, hmm? (Which is further spelled out as the opening credits roll, and Faith’s research, along with some critter sketches, drive that home.)
What could go wrong, right? Cue the mid-blizzard home invasion team of Liz & Kory! Mama Faith ain’t takin’ that crap, though - one swing of a baseball bat with spikes, and Kory is down for the count! Lucky that Faith is a nurse and…*checks notes again*…fixes Kory up and offers them a room for the night? Weird, but true.
I won’t give away TOO much about the back half of the film, you see where this is headed. Or, like me, you THINK you see. Things definitely take a turn for the surreal, and you begin to question wtf is really happening. I will say that the practical creature FX are…both prickly and oddly gooey.
From an overall story perspective, some odd choices were made. Like the fact that Charm is obsessed with Green Lantern, so much so that specific GL stories are discussed, and an odd fever dream fantasy has someone show up in a Green Lantern cosplay. I mean, it still may be better than the Ryan Reynolds version of GL, but damn, where were DC’s legal folks on this? ;)
Overall, this was a fun romp, but the ending will definitely divide the audience. That and the fact that this was NOT the holiday spectacle I was promised from the title - aside from using a light-up candy cane as a prop and having a couple of holiday tunes playing in the background - lead me to recommend that it might be safer to just watch Krampus again instead.
Now On Kickstarter!
BOMBSHELL & ATOMICA #1-2 - The excitingly erotic tale of two women discovering their superpowers continues in this second issue, written by the massively successful writing team of Kat Calamia and Phil Falco from Lifeline Comics, the brains behind some of the sexiest series on Kickstarter like Beast and Snow, Witches of Oz, and Nightmare in Wonderland.
CEREAL KILLER #1-2 - The sugar-coated murder mystery continues in this second issue by writer Scott Wilke (Periwinkle, Bobby Jo) and Kit Wallis (High on Life, Good Boy).
ATOMIC BANG! - Jason Pell’s retro sci-fi antho, featuring the return of the Zombie Highway crew! Multiple artists!
Holiday Tunes For Your Earholes!
This was put together by John MacLeod for Muckspout, where he also contributes his music recommendations.
That’s it for this week! If you enjoyed these segments, sound off in the comments!
Bugs and Kisses,
John and the Bad Bug Crew
