The holiday season is usually one of joy and family bonding. There is a genre of films that focuses on the holidays. Including some classics like Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. There are also horror movies that focus on Christmas and the holiday season as well. One that comes to mind is Black Christmas from 1974. It’s a slasher film for the holiday and Christmas season. A Creature Was Stirring is the latest in this subgenre of horror films. 

A Nurse, Faith (Chrissy Metz), and her daughter Charm (Annalise Basso) live together. They have an uneasy relationship. She has to care for her daughter because she has an affliction which means she can’t leave the house. When a couple of burglars, Liz (Scout Taylor Compton), and Kory (Connor Paolo) break into their house things start to happen. When a creature comes out and scares the hell out of the two strangers things get crazy.

The director Damien LeVeck, and writer Shannon Wells, create andark, an ominous, atmosphere. The medical elements of the story create a neurotic scenario for the guests but the mother played by Metz might be a little crazy in her own right. Her past experiences with drug abuse come into effect here with how she cares for her daughter. The Christmas season and blizzard going on outside don’t help matters. It makes things more claustrophobic. The trappings of the house also create a nature of survival for the uninvited guests.

The dark cinematography and nighttime atmosphere make for a creepy film. The ominous nature of the story gave me the creeps even though I don’t usually get scared at horror films. There is also a dreamlike quality to the movie that wasn’t quite in the same vein as the rest of the film. There is a mix of styles going on within the same story. Even though the movie looks very similar There are multiple things going on within the story that don’t all fit together. That is a problem with the script. The director makes the most of it though with the moody nature.

This film is basically a creature feature and the creature within the story is one that is quite scary and very dark in nature. The medicine that the mother uses to help the girl in her affliction makes it worse for the teen girl. I feel there are multiple connotations that fit together but don’t make sense in the overall story. All of this stuff makes the movie more confusing in the end. This film doesn’t know what it wants to be. A creature feature or a psychological horror thriller.

A Creature Was Stirring has a good premise that doesn’t quite work. There are multiple ideas at play that don’t completely fit together. The daughter is an interesting character and the mother is a caring person who may have a problem of her own. The filmmaker doesn’t know what aspects of this confusing story to focus on more. The dark cinematography and nighttime visuals make for a creepy and ominous story. All the story beats don’t fit together for me though in the end. They just made it harder to watch and enjoy even though the runtime was that long at an hour and a half. Horror fans might like this but I didn’t.

2 stars

Dan Skip Allen