Spooky Season 2024: Mr. Crocket Early Review

Mr. Crocket is the feature debut of writer/director Brandon Espy and an adaptation of Espy’s short film of the same name. Set in 1993, Mr. Crocket (Nolasco), a mysterious children’s show host, magically emerges from television sets to kidnap young children while brutally slaying their parents. After Mr. Crocket snatches her son, Summer (Hinton), a determined mother, embarks on a perilous quest to track down the demonic entertainer and rescue her boy. Boasting a fantastic premise that is perfectly suited for a horror film, it essentially amounts to what one would get if they were to mix Mr. Rogers and Freddy Krueger, and threw in a little Five Nights at Freddy’s as a bonus. However, the execution of that premise is severely lacking, as the film never truly reaches its true potential.

That being said, there is a lot to admire about Mr. Crocket and without a doubt, the best thing about it is Nolasco’s performance as the titular character. He finds the perfect balance between chilling and playful, leaving a presence that will have audiences unsettled whenever he appears on screen. While none of the rest of the performances are anything to write home about, Hinton will have audiences to care about Summer and sympathize with her struggles. Meanwhile, on the technical side, the practical effects are strong, most notably the puppet work, and the deaths are quite gnarly and feature some nasty gore work. It will certainly make for a few disturbing images and creepy sequences that will definitely send a chill down one’s spine but, for the most part, it just is not scary in the slightest, failing to utilize its promising premise as much as it should have.

One of the most confusing aspects about the film is its tone, as it never seems to find the right balance between comedy, camp, and horror. Frankly all over the place, it is never clear if one is supposed to be laughing with it or at it, a fact that is never a good sign when it comes to a film like this. Exploring its promising premise, on paper, in one of the dullest ways imaginable, it feels like the film runs out of ideas and any sort of creativity by the halfway point as this adaptation stretches out its source material perhaps too far. Running at less than 90-minutes, what is already a short running time still feels padded. The writing isn’t anything special either, offering up some cringeworthy dialogue and an annoying tendency to over explain itself to the point that by the end, it eliminates any sort of mystery or intrigue from the proceedings. While this is not necessarily the films’ fault, it is easy to presume this film was probably made with a small budget and if that is the case, that perceived lack of budget can be felt across several aspects as it could not do everything it clearly set out to do.

At the end of the day, Mr. Crocket may have a great premise and plenty of admirable qualities to it, but the final product is a bit of a disappointment that not only wastes a great premise, but also a strong performance from Elvis Nolasco. While nothing offensive and does not wear out its welcome, only setting audiences back less than 90-minutes, unless one is an avid horror fan who keeps up with all the latest horror releases, this is one that can safely be skipped without missing much.

still courtesy of Disney

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/