Crew
Director – Brandon Espy, Screenplay – Brandon Espy & Carl Reid, Producers – David Worthen Brooks, Jenna Cavelle, Josh Feldman, Jesse Ford, Sean King O’Grady, Arbi Pedrossian & Carl Reid, Photography – Powell Robinson, Music/Songs – Alex Winkler, Visual Effects – FiXitin Post (Supervisor – Cody Stoltz), Animation – Cartina (Director – Aidan Stadler), Characters Created by Masters FX, Production Design – Michelle Patterson. Production Company – Death Ground/Josh Feldman Productions.
Cast
Jerrika Hinton (Summer Beverly), Elvis Nolasco (Mr Crocket/Emanuel Crocket), Ayden Gavin (Major Beverly), Kristolyn Lloyd (Rhoda Harper), Alex Alomar Akpobome (Eddie Briggs), Akim Black (Kevin), Jabari Striblin (Darren Harper), Alex Morf (Bill), Riley Vinson (Carey)
Plot
Shurry Bottom, PA, 1993. Following the death of her husband, Summer Beverly tries to continue on and support her son Major. She finds a free library nook placed up outside her house that contains a VHS tape for a defunct children’s show Mr Crocket’s World. Major soon becomes obsessed with watching this and resentful when she tries to drag him away. Summer then sees Mr Crocket push his way out of the screen. He announces that he is punishing her for being a bad parent and takes Major with him back into the tv. Summer sets out to rescue Major from Mr Crocket’s realm. She learns of Mr Crocket’s history as a failed children’s show host who has returned from Hell to take children away and kill abusive parents.
Mr Crocket was a directorial debut for African-American director Brandon Espy, who had previously made several short films.
The nearest comparison might be to call Mr Crocket a version of Death to Smoochy (2002) by way of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – although that is not quite an accurate summation either. I entered the film with zero expectations and ended up being quite delighted by it. It proves to be a film where Brandon Espy surprises you and goes well into the grotesque and uncomfortable.
The film hits its stride from a wonderfully bizarre opening where young Alex Alomar Akpobome is being forced to eat his veggies by stepfather Akim Black. We then see the intensely weird images of a pair of eyes peering out of the slot in the VCR machine and then fingers trying to push their way out, all before the appearance of Mr Crocket and his cuddly toy monsters with giant mouths. They pin Akim’s stepfather to his dining table chair as Mr Crocket forces him to eat in exactly the same way he was making Alex, before Akim’s stomach is sliced open and the entire plate shoved inside.
Elvis Nolasco’s Mr Crocket is a splendidly sinister figure. Nolasco plays the part with a jovial cheer and friendliness, insisting on singing songs about sharing and caring even as he is killing people. There is really something quite creepy to his appearances, in particular a scene where Jerrika Hinton sees him forcing his way out of the tv – even after she turns the tv off and then tips it face down on the floor, a pair of hands appear to push it upright again. He is also accompanied by a range of sinister cuddly toy figures – clocks with tentacles coming out of the mouth and animated talking animals on the screen that suddenly turn malevolent.
Trailer here