A Creature Was Stirring (aKa Good Luck, Nightingale) is a 2023 Christmas horror film edited, produced, and directed by Damien LeVeck (Dark, Deadly, & Dreadful, Asylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales, and The Cleansing Hour). It was written by Shannon Wells. Faith (played by: Chrissy Metz from This is Us, American Horror Story, Muppets Haunted Mansion, and Breakthrough) keeps her troubled teenage daughter Charm (played by: Annalise Basso from Ouija: Origin of Evil, Captain Fantastic, Slender Man, and Oculus) on a tightly controlled regimen of experimental drugs, their only means of fending off a mysterious, terrifying affliction. After two burglars Liz (played by: Scout Taylor-Compton from the Halloween franchise, April Fool's Day, Feral, Wicked Little Things, Charmed, The Runaways, and They turned us into Killers) and Kory (played by: Connor Paolo from Alexander, Friend Request, Stake Land, World Trade Center, and Revenge) attempt to rob their home on Christmas, they stumble upon a long-kept family secret with monstrous consequences. They should have picked a different place for their home invasion. Will they survive the night????
A Creature Was Stirring is a hybrid of the home invasion and Christmas horror sub-genres. This holiday horror feature kinda flew under the radar last year and I honestly didn't hear much about it. A Creature Was Stirring turned out to be a nice surprise. It has a really good script from first time writer Shannon Wells. Lots of twists and turns in this one so pay attention closely. It goes from a thriller to a horror movie pretty quick here. It's basically a 4 person feature so every actor here brings their A-Game in this independent production. Chrissy Metz goes against her typecast from her very popular television series and she really displays her acting chops in this low budget flick. Annalise Basso is very mysterious until the finale. I enjoyed the build up for her character. Scout Taylor-Compton and Connor Paolo play siblings at the wrong place at the wrong time. They bring a different vibe to the story besides the isolated family that we see before they are there. They have excellent chemistry together. It's great to see Scout Taylor-Compton doing lots of horror recently. The special fx and the monster are very impressive in A Creature Was Stirring especially for it's modest budget. Director Damien LeVeck keeps busy here with multiple jobs on the shoot. His nightmare visuals really elevate this one. It kept me entertained and it keeps you on your toes with all the surprises until the very end. Hopefully, it gets more love on home video. This showed be considered for any upcoming Christmas horror watch list, RECOMMEND!!!!
