A CREATURE WAS STIRRING
Damien LeVeck gives audiences a clever and nasty addition to the holiday horror subgenre with A CREATURE WAS STIRRING. It’s the Christmas season and a typical evening at home until a home invasion interrupts the care of Faith’s daughter. The undo stress causes her past to rear its ugly head. Those complicated secrets are killer.
Scout Taylor-Compton is Liz, a religious fanatic drifter. Alongside Connor Paolo playing her brother Kory, they seek shelter by breaking into Faith and Charm’s house. These two deliver solid chemistry and provide a weighty anchor that completely counters the energy of Metz and Basso. You will love to hate them for vastly different reasons, but it’s much deeper than you can imagine.
Annalise Basso is Charm. An isolated and soulful take on the role, Basso takes late teen angst and manifests it into a physical performance that wows. Chrissy Metz confidently tackles the role of Faith, a nurse, and mother of a daughter who has a deadly condition. A former addict, her nuanced navigation of an impossible scenario is astonishing. Riddled with guilt and endless determination, Metz brings a fearlessly badass Mama to life. 
The lighting and camera work are fantastic. The film’s opening shot pacts an emotional punch. The dialogue is slick and dripping with innuendo. The volley between religion and science intertwined with comic book and horror canon. Don’t even attempt to guess where Shannon Wells‘ script is going because it is increasingly batshit by the minute. The practical FX made me audibly yelp over and over. When you see it, you won’t be able to remain silent. With quick homages to IT and POLTERGEIST, this creature feature meets addiction metaphor boasts a twisted ending darker than you are ready for.
IN SELECT THEATERS DECEMBER 8, 2023
RELEASING ON VOD DECEMBER 12, 2023
SYNOPSIS:
Faith (Chrissy Metz) keeps her troubled teenage daughter (Annalise Basso) on a tightly controlled regimen of experimental drugs, their only means of fending off a mysterious, terrifying affliction. But after two burglars (Scout Taylor-Compton, Connor Paolo) attempt to rob the home on Christmas, they stumble upon a long-kept family secret—with monstrous consequences.
DIRECTOR:
Damien LeVeck
WRITER:
Shannon Wells
PRODUCERS:
Natalie Leveck & Aaron B. Koontz
CAST:
Chrissy Metz
Annalise Basso
Scout Taylor-Compton
Connor Paolo
RUNNING TIME:
100 Minutes
presents
The performances are outstanding. Truly scary shit. Kyle Gallner as Drew is the good guy, the brains behind the operation. His dedication to Max and Lane may be his ultimate downfall. Gallner is deep in this role, which is no surprise. I am a huge fan of his eclectic body of work. This is no exception. Ryan Guzman as Max is the perfect self-obsessed asshole. Guzman plays the victim very well but walks a phenomenal line between the need for attention and contrition. But it is the performance from Alix Angelis that is fully immersed in terror and sheer brilliance. The entirety of the film’s success is driven by her insane work, and I do mean work. She must have been exhausted after every take.
The practical fx missed with the sound editing made me almost vomit. It took me way too long to catch my breath. The look of the film is spot on. The camera work is cool as hell. But it is the storyline that will suck you in. The entire plot is centered around confession. This demon is looking for something very specific and until then, it will torture and kill until it is satisfied. I could not tear my eyes away from the screen even when I wanted to. Writer/director Damien LeVeck and co-writer Aaron Horwitz know exactly what they’re doing. The social commentary is unmistakable. The Cleansing Hour is full tilt, batshit crazy. The ending… you’ll never see it coming. Stay. Through. The. Credits.
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