Review by Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Chris Skotchdopole
Starring: Rigo Garay, Ella Rae Peck, John Speredakos, Lorraine Farris
I've never had a good time at a wedding, but let's be real: has anyone? Weddings are awful. A compilation of things which nobody really likes; bad music, restrictive clothes, sugared almonds (those horrid pastel pellets). The godawful speeches. Consider the narcissism of weddings, the expense! Disparate attendees marshalled to watch two people essentially sign a contract. And, no, I don't want to see the video, thanks. Yep, weddings are a big pose. Take Shane (Rigo Garay) and Leah (Ella Rae Peck - I love this name), star crossed protagonists of Chris Skotchdopole's (with writing credits shared by actual Larry Fessenden and Garay) directorial debut Crumb Catcher as we join them on Their Big Day, customarily fed up and worn out at the after party. They pose against a white sweep, the ostensible harmony of the resultant images camouflaging the bitter actuality of the moment as the in-situ Shane and Leah swipe and niggle each other before the functionary wedding photographer. Skotchdopole frames the shot to highlight the artificiality of the moment, suggesting that this happily ever after is anything but.
The incongruity continues with the insinuation that the wealthier Leah, working for a swanky publishing company, has married beneath her in the form of tattooed struggling writer Shane. Shane, meanwhile, harbours insecurities of his own, with an alcoholic father not invited to the wedding (emphasising Shane's alienation) and his own issues with the bottle. Still, at least Leah is about to publish his debut novel...
The film is quick to establish that this is a marriage with strings attached and certain status interplays. Skotchdopole films this with an eye for character detail and interesting composition. To wit, we see a ruinously hungover Shane come to in the morning via an oblique angle which utilises the hotel room's mirrored ceiling and metal beams, a noir-ish arrangement which neatly expresses Shane's disorientation and foreshadows captivity. Adam Carboni's photography is lovely throughout the movie with deep and inky colours characterising the visual set. Garay and Peck are also both very good, too. Which is all just as well because plot wise Crumb Catcher seems to take an age to get going.
As an Arrow release, it is unlikely that audiences are going in without the foreknowledge that Crumb Catcher is a horror. And so, the slow build should be one of anticipatory dread, not genre impatience. Watching the opening with the clearly incompatible Leah and Shane as it meanders across the first act is like being stuck on a double date with an antagonistic couple. You shouldn't be hoping that something awful happens to them. And so, when John Speredakos' weirdo waiter ("John") from the reception reappears in the secluded honeymoon haven it's not before time... Slight spoilers follow...
John has in tow his wife Rose (Lorraine Farris, playing as trash but still strikingly beautiful - that bone structure, man), a mad plan for an invention (the titular "catcher"), and blackmail leverage to raise funds for the prototype. It turns out that John has phone camera footage of Rose performing an act of oral intimacy on a black-out drunk Shane. I know. It's a bit... well, unconvincing (at his own wedding where we're positioned to see Shane as beleaguered underdog he accepts a bj from a stranger?) and further evidence that the bride and groom are just not that into each other. In a similar manner to the social-horror of Speak No Evil (and its imperious remake), the film first predicates upon the couple awkwardly humouring their unwanted guests, to ultimately being under their sinister thrall as John and Rose attempt to extort money for their bizarre dining innovation like a nightmare edition of Dragon's Den. The uncanny charisma of Speredakos, with his nail-biting weirdness, seems to wake the film up in these sequences, with the camera whip panning and spinning to demonstrate the newlyweds' dire straits. As the home invasion horror gets into gear, the two couples are juxtaposed: Shane and Leah deeply compromised, John and Rose committed but unhinged. At least the latter two seem to be in love; a telling earlier sequence depicts Shane, in the bedroom with Leah, roleplaying being "not her husband" as part of the consummation. When evaluating the undercurrents and concessions of marriage, Crumb Catcher is at its most interesting.
But what intrigues most about Crumb Catcher also serves as a genre setback. For home invasions to work, there must be some sort of identification with the victims, a need to see domestic equilibrium restored. You get the feeling that if John was to show Leah the offending video, he'd be doing both Shane and her a favour. And thus, instead of being scary, John and Rose's antics simply become a bit annoying after a while. When John does eventually pull a gun on the couple, even the film itself seems to lose confidence in its push/pull premise. No spoilers, but the final scene suggests a - maybe too late? - redemption for the relationship. Good for them. Unlike with most weddings, at least Shane and Leah will have an interesting story to tell people about the day...
Crumb Catcher is on Arrow Player and bluray from July 14th.
