HorfrorHorror films seem to be working their way into home video this first week of December and All The Creatures Were Stirring is just in time for gift giving to fans of the genre. Nicely creative and inventive, the movie works best with a group watching. If this DVD won’t supply the chills however, then just step outside your door into some weather that will.
It’s Christmas Eve in chilly Southern California and Max is waiting for his blind date to show up outside a playhouse called “The Sherry Theatre”. Jenna shows up and he greets her with a lame line that the two of them should not be alone on Christmas Eve. It’s not the best way to start off a relationship, but she gets it and they walk into the lobby for tickets to “Al the Creatures Were Stirring”.
They enter the theatre and he picks up the reserved tickets and they get seated in the small auditorium where several couples and a few singles are settled. The first act begins and the cue card reads “The Stockings Were Hung”. It finds several employees playing secret gift exchange with consequences. And the ghastly stories turn more evil as the acts roll out. In the next act “Dash Away All” a guy leaves a department store as the last customer with gifts he purchased. He goes to his car in the darkened lot and through a quirk of bad luck he locks his keys and cell phone inside. Two girls in a parked van nearby ask him if he needs help. His decision leads to the worst night of his life.
In “All Through the House” Chet, a “bah humbug” type of guy, gets a visit from his neighbor asking him if he would like to donate to the United National Christmas Fund. He slams the door in his neighbor’s face and walks to his sofa. There’s an old scrooge type film on and they give him a message that he will get a visit from three ghosts. “Arose Such a Clatter” shows a photographer traveling in his car late at night and he hits an animal killing it. He looks at the car and there’s not enough damage to drive home and he does. But he’s been followed by someone traveling behind him.
The next act called “In a Twinkling” finds Steve arriving home on Christmas Eve looking a bit frazzled. He gets a call from Gabby and she wonders why he hasn’t come to her party. He tells her he cannot go out on this night and after he hangs up blocks his bedroom door with a dresser and chains himself to his bed. Gabby shows up with her friends and they start a party. But the guests she brought along start acting weird as if they were from another planet. In the final episode “And to All a Good Night” the audience gets to participate.
As a bonus you can hear what the filmmaker was thinking when he made the movie by turning on the “Filmmaker Commentary”.
Even though the film gets very bizarre at times, it’s a pretty cool movie. It may be inappropriate however for the under 17 crowed due to the language, drug use, gore and violence. Otherwise, for this genre fan it’s a good choice, especially the act called “Dash Away All”.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A very inventive film with some good sequences. (3.5 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Directed and written by: David Ian McKendry and Rebekah McKendry
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 1 hr. 20 min.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains violence, gore, language, sexual comments
Video Release Date: December 4, 2018
Language: English
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJE Films
Released Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital Video
