MR. CROCKET (2024)

Studio:   Hulu
Director: Brandon Espy
Writer:   Carl Reid, Brandon Espy
Producer: David Worthen Brooks, Arbi Pedrossian, Jenna Cavelle, Carl Reid, Sean King O'Grady, Josh Feldman, Jesse Ford
Stars:    Jerrika Hinton, Ayden Gavin, Kristolyn Lloyd, Alex Alomar Akpobome, Elvis Nolasco

Review Score:

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Summary:

In the 1990s, a mysterious children's show host emerges from televisions to supernaturally abduct the neglected children of abusive parents.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

In Shurry Bottom, Pennsylvania, in 1993, eight-year-old Darren Harper becomes entranced by a videotape of a children's television show titled "Mr. Crocket's World" that mysteriously appeared in a little library outside his family's home. During dinner, Darren's stepfather Kevin begins verbally and physically abusing the boy. Mr. Crocket supernaturally emerges from the VCR with his monstrous puppets to torment and mutilate Kevin. Darren disappears with Crocket, leaving his mother Rhonda horrified by the gruesome scene.

The following year in 1994, Summer Beverly struggles to manage her disobedient eight-year-old son Major in the wake of her husband Jerrel's death. Now a troubled homeless woman, Rhonda Harper has a strange encounter with Summer when she interacts with Major and cryptically warns Summer about Mr. Crocket.

The little library inexplicably appears outside Summer's home. Summer finds the "Mr. Crocket's World" videocassette inside and gives the tape to Major, who begins watching it repeatedly.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a little girl named Carey rouses her drug-abusing father Bill when the power goes out while she watches the same videotape. Bill snaps at his daughter for disturbing him, which summons Mr. Crocket from the television. Crocket compels Bill to kill himself with a bubble-blowing gun that bursts his head. Carey vanishes with Crocket.

In response to Summer turning off his Mr. Crocket tape, Major defiantly smashes mementos of his father. Fed up with his behavior, Summer tells Major she wants to quit being his mother. Mr. Crocket comes out of the TV to take Major from his shocked mother. Summer reports what happened to the police, but no one believes her incredible story.

While canvassing the area in search of her son, Summer comes upon the crime scene at Bill and Carey's house. A neighbor tells Summer about the rumor of a supernatural kidnapper being involved. Summer connects the apparent similarities to her own child's disappearance.

Additional research on a rash of missing children reveals local TV show host Emanual Crocket was killed in a police shootout after allegedly attempting to abduct nine-year-old Anthony Williams in 1979. Through a TV in the library, Mr. Crocket taunts Summer, causing her to run out of the building in fright.

A man identifying himself as Eddie Briggs finds Summer. Eddie claims he believes Summer's story because he also lost a daughter to Mr. Crocket, and he thinks Summer can help find her since Summer saw Crocket without being killed. Eddie's story reminds Summer of her earlier encounter with Rhonda.

Eddie and Summer track Rhonda to a homeless encampment where Rhonda surrounds herself with televisions and radio receivers. Rhonda explains how she uses the equipment to keep tabs on Mr. Crocket by tapping into the same airwaves he uses to find new victims. Using her setup to monitor Crocket's mind, the three of them obtain an address for where he will strike next.

Summer, Eddie, and Rhonda confront Mr. Crocket at the site of his next abduction. Crocket kills Rhonda. Summer and Eddie end up entering a nightmare realm of Crocket's former studio set.

Mr. Crocket's monstrous puppets restrain Summer. Surrounded by entranced children, Crocket tells them his story. Crocket recounts how he suffered abuse as a child, but grew strong so he could kill his unloving father while making it look like an accident. Dreaming of having his own family, Crocket took it upon himself to protect neglected children. While taping his show, he realized one of the young actors, Anthony Williams, lived in a broken home. Crocket offered Anthony a safe place to stay, but police considered him a kidnapper, resulting in the violent confrontation that killed Crocket. After dying, Crocket made a deal with the devil to deliver the souls of bad parents in exchange for a world of his own where he could bring worthy children to play in his paradise forever.

Eddie reveals he is actually Anthony, now an adult, and he manipulated Summer because he has been searching for years for a way back into Mr. Crocket's world. Eddie pulls out a handgun to shoot Summer, but he stops when Crocket seemingly recognizes him. However, Crocket upsets Anthony by saying he is no longer an innocent boy, but an insane man who doesn't belong there. Crocket then has one of his monster puppets kill Anthony.

Mr. Crocket gives Summer a chance to convince Major to return home with her, but Major chooses to remain in Crocket's world. Crocket next instructs his demonic puppets and the entranced children to attack Summer. Crocket directs Major to deliver the killing blow with a knife, but after Summer expresses her love for her son, the knife turns into a magical marker.

The abducted children finally break free from their trances. Summer cuts Mr. Crocket in half. Summer escapes with the children through a magical doorway that returns them to reality. Crocket's torso crawls after everyone while threatening to always be with Major wherever he goes.

Summer reunites Darren with Rhonda, who begins getting her life back together. Much later, a guidance counselor from Major's school informs Summer that her son's aggressive behavior is growing worrisome, and he has been frightening classmates with stories about his new father. As Summer comes to the horrifying realization that Major remains obsessed with Mr. Crocket, Major pulls out a magical marker in his bedroom in preparation for reopening the door to Mr. Crocket's world.

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Review:

Hulu hooked me on "Mr. Crocket" with a teaser trailer. The cryptic, 27-second clip featured a mustached man in a bowtie singing, smiling, and marching his way across a studio set with a line of happy children mimicking his exaggerated dance moves. Intermittent flickers disturbingly distorted the audio while slipping in shots of oddly ominous puppets and a cartoon Crocket sneering sinisterly. There wasn't much more than that, yet the setup of a cursed children's TV show whose haunting host emerges from VCRs to abduct children had me sold on a "Candle Cove" vibe that's hard to resist for Saturday morning minds that were warped by the weird imaginations of Sid and Marty Krofft.

The first family depicted in "Mr. Crocket" should have known something was off with their "Mr. Crocket's World" videocassette when it showed up next to a book titled "Cerberus: The Big Dead Dog" in a little library that mysteriously appeared on their lawn. The mystery deepens a short time later, when strict stepfather Kevin begins forcing vegetables into eight-year-old Darren's mouth, causing Mr. Crocket to come out of the TV with monstrous muppets who mutilate Kevin for abusing the boy. Crocket vanishes as quickly as he came, taking Darren with him while leaving his distraught mother to stare in shock at the crime scene in her kitchen.

The following year in 1994, Summer struggles to manage her disobedient son Major's unruly behavior in the wake of her husband's death. Summer finally gets a quick hit of quiet time when that odd little library materializes outside her home. Thinking nothing of the unusual Mr. Crocket tape, she puts it in the player, and it placates Major for far longer than expected. In fact, he becomes so enamored with the show, Summer has to turn it off because Major watches it too much.

Turning off the tape earns Major's ire. It also earns a visit from Mr. Crocket, who crawls out of the TV to take Major after Summer responds to the boy's fit by saying she doesn't want to be his mother anymore. Frustration quickly becomes fear, as no one will believe Summer's story about a mysterious man kidnapping her son via VHS.

No one except another forlorn father as well as the mother from the prologue. Following another abduction from a broken home, the parents put together that this murdered TV show host has returned from the dead with an alarming agenda. Getting their kids back will require finding a way into Mr. Crocket's supernatural world, and facing their own failings as mothers and fathers to bring their sons and daughters back home where they belong.

For a formula-following horror film that's straight to the point with its streamlined story and scares, "Mr. Crocket" does a remarkable job of handling its more delicate aspects with careful consideration. Child abduction in particular can be a touchy topic. Supernatural or not, whenever a lone man lures kids into uncomfortable situations, a tale risks teetering into insinuations of molestation that can swiftly turn amusing frights into triggering traumas. The more backstory that gets revealed though, the more the viewer realizes Mr. Crocket may be evil, but his intentions aren't expressly perverted, making him easier to see as a fantastical villain instead of a too-real creep.

"Mr. Crocket" also handles the rocky relationship between Major and his mother with diplomacy. Whether he's playing handheld video games during his father's funeral or smashing dad's photo frame as an act of defiance, a sympathetic viewer will want to smack the boy more than once during the movie. Summer does too, yet she alternately shows reasonable restraint when she puts up with her petulant son out of love and understanding, until lashing out feels like the only way to reel him back in. "Mr. Crocket" doesn't take the easy bait of "bad son, misunderstood mother," opting instead to add a little nuance between these typical lines.

Made by a Black filmmaker and starring Black actors, one more trap "Mr. Crocket" avoids is pandering to POC tropes. The film touches on subjects of struggling single mothers and abusive stepfathers without presenting them, intentionally or unintentionally, as race-related issues. The narrative roots itself in universally relatable themes of upended parent-child bonds and fear for a family's safety, not notions of urban poverty or systemic bigotry. These people could be anybody, they just happen to be Black.

A couple of sloppy details rough up the edges, but only if you pause to point out discrepancies in prop text or are bothered by a monster puppet's supposedly sharp fang bending weirdly when it hits an actor for two seconds. Otherwise, "Mr. Crocket's" vibrancy keeps the fun factor buzzing with a mix of live-action lunacy, animation, and Jim Henson-esque horrors lending a colorfully dark look and feel to the film.

"Mr. Crocket" probably won't make any Top Ten lists. It might not even make a list of Top Ten midnight movies from an overcrowded October when genre distributors apparently forget there are 11 other months on the calendar. But how many horror films do? Enjoyable without being empty, and sincere without being sappy, "Mr. Crocket" merely manufactures a solid selection for a "31 Nights of Halloween" marathon that feels fresh in spite of its familiarity, and entertains without feeling the need to unnecessarily reinvent any B-movie wheels.

Review Score: 65

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