CREATURE FEATURE – Movie Review

CREATURE FEATURE

• RELEASE DATE: Available Now on DVD (Click Here to Purchase a Copy)
• WRITTEN BY: Chase Smith
• DIRECTED BY: Chase Smith
• STARRING: Tenille Houston, Libby Blanton, Becca Beton

 CREATURE FEATURE; the new anthology fright flick from Brain Damage Films, weaves together terror tales that occur on a foggy Halloween night; all in the manner of being stories within a creepy comic book.

After a bit of business with a young lad afraid of monsters in his closet we begin the film proper as our host, Jack, begins weaving a yarn of your garden variety irresponsible babysitter whiling away the night drinking and boning instead of paying attention to her young charges. The one thing she does pay attention to is a life-size clown statue that watches over her every move from the corner of the living room. Well, you can probably guess how that turns out my creeps! Next up we get a tale of vengeance from beyond the grave involving a murdered man coming back for payback against his revoltin’ relatives (who are also Satanists of course). Rounding out the flick are accounts of a group of teens running afoul of a killer scarecrow, and some punks encountering a werewolf with a sprinkling of the legend of Spring Heeled Jack (one of my favorite freaky folk tales) thrown in as he is catalyst for all of the supernatural menaces unleashed in the film.

Most of the segments mentioned above are nothing ground breaking or amazing; especially with their use of clichéd creatures (clown, zombie, scarecrow et. al.), and wildly truncated format (5 stories in an hour and nineteen minutes is a bit much). Adding to the problem (and creating some sort of logic puzzle that threatens the fabric of the universe) is the constant cutting to some rando band playing at a Halloween party where the stories are told. It serves no purpose other than to pad the film…a film filled to the brim with too many stories that aren’t given enough time to play out properly!

Now all is not bad here; I thought the first story involving the clown, while nothing new, was well done and seemed the most complete (plus the clown’s demonic make-up was a good time). Additionally the comic book panel style transitions were a nice touch. But the best thing about this film was that aforementioned Spring Heeled Jack segment. Over the course of like three minutes we get naked witches, the lost colony of Roanoke, and a supernatural menace conjured from the fog of Victorian London with razor blades for fingertips and a penchant for deviltry undreamed of. Now this was a great concept and should have been the entire film (and one I hope writer/director Chase Smith will consider); then we could have had something unique, fun, and bat-shit insane instead of a series of twice (or more) told tales.