‘No soul is safe’
The Crooked Man – aka Crooked Man – is a 2016 American horror film directed by Jesse Holland (Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear; YellowBrickRoad), based on a story and screenplay by Justin Smith (Ominous; The Monkey’s Paw) and Peter Sullivan (Ominous; Chupacabra vs. the Alamo; Hydra).
Based on the same nursery rhyme that was featured in The Conjuring 2, the Hybrid production premiered on October 1, 2016, as part of the Syfy channel’s ’31 Days of Halloween’. A Lionsgate DVD release followed on February 14, 2017.
Main cast:
Michael Jai White (An Accidental Zombie (Named Ted); Spawn), Angelique Rivera, Cameron Jebo, Dina Meyer (Saw), Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Dmitrious Bistrevsky [as The Crooked Man], Reilly Stith, Alexis Wilkins, Brianne Tju, Marco Rodríguez, Dia Frampton, Daniel Booko, John Colton.
Reviews:
“The design of the character itself was nifty – especially in the way he moves. It’s a nice effect […] The Crooked Man was a completely unoriginal amalgamation of Freddy Krueger (a bowler hat rather than a fedora), The Creeper from the Jeepers Creepers franchise and the title character from The Babadook. And believe me, these are not qualities you’ll have to squint to see.” Michael Klug, Horrorfreak News
“You won’t for one moment contemplate calling the film a “good movie” but you might fit in the same group in which I like to hang, which is the group willing to admit that this one is a bit of a guilty pleasure. The Crooked Man has a few moments in which he looks pretty cool, and a little on the creepy side.” Addicted to Horror Movies
“Thankfully, The Crooked Man is no Sharknado; despite a good helping of genre clichés it does a great job creating a sustained mood of dread mixed with a compelling story. Add in some interesting characters who display a baseline level of competence and intelligence and you have yourself an enjoyable start to the Halloween season.” Ann Laabs, SciFi4Me.com
“Director Jesse Holland has previously played in more daring indie horror territory with the psychologically-centered spooks of Yellowbrickroad and We Go On. Here, Holland sticks instead to by-the-book standards of pat plotting and simple setups that read as routine, but with a mild manner that is amusingly entertaining rather than strictly pedestrian.” Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
“Sadly, this one offers nothing of value besides a few derivative attempts a jump scares.” Henry Faherty, MovieTVTechGeeks.com
