A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 9, 2024

Considering that it's a holiday supposedly celebrating a bit of "good news", it's kind of hilarious how many Christmas themed or at least titled horror outings there have been through the years, including Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Christmas Evil and any number of properties bearing the name Silent Night, though the linked to film is probably salient with regard to A Creature Was Stirring in that neither film really depends on a Christmas "theme" to get their points across. In fact, certain aspects of this tale may bring to mind such non-Christmas but still religiously suffused horror entries like Carrie, especially since this film also offers a rather "intense" mother - daughter relationship. In this case, it's a nurse mom not so coincidentally named Faith (Chrissy Metz), and her apparently afflicted (though with what is left a mystery) daughter Charm (Annalise Basso). If Carrie's mother was an unmitigated zealot, in this case the religious fervor, or at least the traditional religious fervor, is left to Liz (Scout Taylor-Compton), who, along with Kory (Connor Paolo), is one of two interlopers more or less invading Faith's home during a white out blizzard.

A Creature is Stirring is long on style but at times almost bafflingly incoherent in its narrative. Unsurprisingly, all four major characters in this piece have supposed secrets in their past, which the film doles out slowly but surely, but there's never a completely clear explanation as to what exactly is going on with Faith and Charm, and perhaps even more importantly, with some monstrous things going more than bump in the night. There are attempts at explanations, mind you, but the screenplay is incredibly muddled, trying to work in elements of substance abuse, religious fervor and, well, porcupine-esque monsters with middling results. There's a late play that seems to suggest some characters may be the product of A Beautiful Mind (so to speak), and that perhaps the monsters serve as some kind of allegorical presence, but, again, everything is so jumbled that nothing ends up making much sense.

There are some viscerally effective moments scattered throughout the enterprise, though, and horror fans in particular will probably be favorably inclined toward a number of goofy but fun practical effects as those aforementioned monsters get a fleeting moment or two. Some unintentional humor may arise from the very fact that the film features what are more less mutant porcupines, and a couple of the ostensibly scary moments may be somewhat comedic despite the supposed terror of the victimized humans.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf had more or less the same reaction to A Creature is Stirring that I did. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Creature is Stirring is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb doesn't have any pertinent technical data as of the writing of this review, but cinematographer Alexander Chinnici's website details that Sony Venice cameras were used, and I'm assuming this had a 2K DI. As can be seen in the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, Chinnici and director Damien LeVeck play with Christmas colors throughout, almost slathering Faith's home in various tones at times, something that gives the palette some real interest and variety. It also tends to make a lot of scenes quite dark, especially in some of the more florid red and green material. Those choices, along with other sequences that play out in near darkness, offer some inadequate shadow detail and a lack of general detail as well. Because of the overall somewhat dim but still colored lighting regimen, when lighting values change suddenly, there is slight but noticeable banding on display. Close- ups in particular can offer very appealing levels of fine detail, occasionally even in moments of less than fulsome lighting. Some of the monster effects may provoke laughter, but detail on things like the porcupine quills tends to be quite impressive.

A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Creature is Stirring features an expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Despite the fact that virtually this entire story plays out within the confines of Faith's home, there's rather good attention paid to regular engagement of the side and rear channels for all sorts of ambient environmental effects, including (somewhat late in the film) the little scuttling "pitter patter" of monster feet, which can pan appealingly. There are the typical uses of weird low frequency washes that also spread through the surround channels and add some angst factor. Matthew O'Malley contributes an evocative and intermittently bombastic score that is also well placed in the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:04)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

A Creature Was Stirring Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly revisited two or three key sequences in A Creature is Stirring to see if I had somehow missed some salient information along the way, and determined I actually hadn't, leaving me with any number of lingering questions as the story came to its calamitous close. Horror fans who appreciate some undeniable style and who aren't bothered by a certain lack of narrative clarity may find some interest here, and technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.