A CREATURE WAS STIRRING movie poster | ©2023 Well Go USA Entertainment

Rating: R
Stars: Chrissy Metz, Annalise Basso, Scout Taylor-Compton, Connor Paolo
Writer: Shannon Wells
Director: Damien LeVeck
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Release Date: December 8, 2023

For most of its running time, A CREATURE WAS STIRRING is a crazy horror delight, with surprises galore, as well as some potent metaphors. Then, alas, director Damien LeVeck and writer Shannon Wells put in one twist too many.

It’s Christmas in Louisville, Kentucky. Faith (Chrissy Metz), a nurse and single mom, is tending to her twentysomething daughter Charm (Annalise Basso). Charm is suffering from much more than a normal ailment, and is prone to seizures – and worse – if her temperature fluctuates out of a certain range.

To the tune of “Greensleeves,” the song over the opening titles suggests part of what’s going on, as does a montage showing Charm contorting, providing us with dictionary definitions of “mutant” and “mutation.”

Charm is a talented artist, exorcising her rage with drawings. The mother-daughter clashes here have both bitterness and tentative love. We learn that Faith is a recovering addict, who seems to be trying to assuage her guilt about the bad old days with her attempts to heal Charm.

The concept of making a full-on horror film based on a former addict’s fears of what they may have passed along in utero to their child is solid, and the filmmakers make a valid case for their analogies.

A blizzard is raging outside. Lost sister/brother duo of Liz (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Kody (Connor Paolo) stumble in from the snow. Faith isn’t happy about the intrusion by these strangers, but grudgingly lets them stay inside.

Where is all of this going? Things get wilder and wilder. Director LeVeck gets wonderful, spooky visuals, justified by the glowing Christmas décor, with vivid greens and oranges and purples shining out of the darkness.

The major creature effects don’t turn up immediately, but when they do, they are disturbing and impressive.

Metz fearlessly inhabits all aspects of her character, from cowed parent dealing with a child’s disdain to professional healer to irate homeowner to (in flashbacks) confident hedonist. Basso puts across Charm’s frustration, deadpan sarcasm and desperate hope affectingly. Taylor-Compton plays Liz’s religious conviction with sincerity, and Paolo puts credible ambiguity into Kody.

A CREATURE WAS STIRRING largely keeps us engaged with its combinations of human interactions, guessing where it may go next, and what significant secrets may be revealed.

But then there’s a final bit that seems inspired by a famous film in another horror subgenre, but it’s all wrong for this specific movie. It resolves a couple of narrative gaps, but at the expense of the impact of most of what’s been previously achieved.

Still, A CREATURE WAS STIRRING provides enough good things to be worth watching overall.

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