Hello horror fans!
I am Torstein from Cinema Terror and I have yet another fresh new horror film to talk
about after seeing it on the big screen at the fantastic Ramaskrik Film Festival here
in Norway.
This one is a christmas horror anthology called called All The Creatures Were Stirring.and
it is getting released in the United States on December 4th.
All the Creatures Were Stirring gives us four short stories that relate to christmas in
one way or another delivered within a very funny wraparound.
Since this is a new film that are still awaiting its release, I will not go much into each
of the stories and what they are about, so if I'm coming off vague in my description
of this film, then that is done on purpose to keep this as spoiler free as possible.
The four stories, five if you include the wraparound has a wide variety to them and
I am also happy that they did not go overboard with the christmas part of it.
They did not attempt to do what others have done before by having an evil Santa, killer
elfs or stuff like that.
Instead they come up with new, interesting stories to tell that stands on their own and
does not remind you of previous horror films set at christmas.
We get fresh new creative stuff that involves demons, aliens and other weird stuff that
you would probably not have guessed beforehand.
As expected with all anthology movies, there will be segments that you will enjoy and dislike
and All the Creatures Were Stirring does not avoid that by being able to give four great
stories, but they were not far from either.
I thought two of the stories were marvelous, one was okay and one was poor.
That's not bad at all, especially as it looks like a small indie production.
They are able to overcome the low budget by being creative and come up with fun ways to
tell the stories without having to rely on good looking special effects.
The two best segments work so well because of how unique and well thought out they were,
even if they do have some influences from stuff like Tales from the Crypt or Twilight
Zone in them.
My favorite out of the segments is the one that deals with a mythological demonic creature.
It feels like something that perhaps Blumhouse Productions could take notice of and turn
into a big scary fun full length film.
On the opposite side is the segment that I believe had to be the shortest one, which
doesn't work as the evil in it isn't being displayed fully, probably due to lack of budget
to create the monster that the story neeeded.
The film doesn't look all that great, again probably due to the budget restrains, but
it at no point felt amateurish.
The acting is all good enough, although there weren't any standouts to me.
That's also kind of the great thing about doing an anthology movie when you don't have
much money.
You don't have to create well rounded characters, but rather just introduce them as the story
they are participating in is only 15-20 minutes long.
I wish more indie horror filmmakers did anthologies as I think the format works great to introduce
us to new talent.
It was also extra fun for me personally that I enjoyed this film as it is directed by David
Ian and Rebekah McKendry.
I've been listening to Rebekah on her podcast Shock Waves and the previous version of it
called Killer POV since they first started which what has to be four or five years ago.
It was cool to see how her humour got translated onto the screen, and it is the humour that
are the best part of the film.
I kept consistently laughing throughout the entire film, especially whenever it goes back
to the hilarious wraparound.
The best you can hope for when creating such a low budget movie is that it manages to display
your skill and talent, and I do hope that this film will get the McKendry's the opportunity
to do a bigger film in the future.
I am sure that they have plenty of stories and ideas ready.
It did leave me thinking of how awesome this could have been with a bigger budget behind
it though as I am sure it is the budget and not the creative people behind it that keeps
it from becoming even better than what it was.
I will say that I think you have to be able to enjoy indie horror movies to enjoy this,
but if you are able to have fun with new horror films that might not have a million dollars
behind it, then I think you will find plenty to enjoy in All the Creatures Were Stirring.
It's a fun, entertaining film and I'd be all up for a sequel to this in the future.
All the Creatures Were Stirring gets the good score of 3 out of 5.
What are your favorite christmas horror movie?
Or favorite horror anthology from the last 10-15 years?
Let me know about it in the comment section below.
I have done a review for a mostly forgotten anthology film from 1983 called Nightmares.
That's also a good one, so if horror anthologies are your thing, then check out that video
as well.
Hope you enjoyed the review and that you will keep coming back to watch more in the future
here on Cinema Terror.
Thank you.
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