Creeing Crawling (DVD Review) - Brain Damage Films

USA/2012
Directed By: Jon Russell Cring
Written By: Jon Russell Cring, Joshua Owens, Tracy Nichole Cring
Starring: Raine Brown, Anna Shields, Chuck Girard
Color/113 Minutes/Not Rated
Region  1
Release Date: October 7, 2014

The Film
A couple of students pay a visit to their slightly odd and out there Entomology professor who proceeds to tell them a series of bizarre and horrific stories involving various bugs and insects. This serves as the wrap around story for this anthology film. The first chapter involves an aspiring model who thinks losing that last 10-15 pounds will give her a big break. Her model friend introduces her to a pill from Africa that delivers a Tapeworm into the digestive system to induce weight loss. Things quickly go wrong for the woman, who has as many mental issues from an abusive childhood as she does bug problems with the worm. It all culminates in an incredibly stomach churning removal of the worm that has grown ridiculously large.

The second story is my personal favorite, as a student poses as an experienced nurse and lands a job taking care of a woman's beloved son who is totally paralyzed and requires total care while his mother takes her annual week long trip to England. Her fractured mind leads to imagining her bed is infested with bugs, sleeping with the boy and eventually letting off so much bug spray that it takes a major toll on the pair. The third and final chapter revolves around a shy office worker who is desperate for a lover. His weird sexual fetish has alienated women until he finds someone even more deranged than he is.

CREEPING CRAWLING has some rough moments but overall rises above any level of success I initially thought possible for this film based around disgusting insects. I hate bugs and this movie had a few real gross out moments with them. None nastier than the removal of the tapeworm in the first story. The psychological breakdown in the second story is well done and actress Anna Shields does a great job carrying the short. I found CREEPING CRAWLING to be a pleasant surprise and a solid horror film that fits in a few different styles within its runtime.

The Audio & Video
The DVD release from Brain Damage Films is pretty good. The picture quality fluctuates a bit from segment to segment sometimes looking a bit cheaper than others but the 16x9 widescreen transfer has good clarity and color along with decent detail level. The 2.0 stereo audio mix is just okay, as the levels could be mixed a bit better. Sometimes the dialogue has to fight for position with the score and soundtrack. There's no background noise to mention though.

The Extras
 None.

The Bottom Line
CREEPING CRAWLING gets a "recommended" tag from me as it has good moments of gross out gags, horror and a bit of sexiness while being better than I could have guessed.

CREEPING CRAWLING is available HERE