WFG RATING: B

Hulu presents a Worthenbrooks production in association with Death Ground. Directed by Brandon Espy. Produced by Sean King O’Grady, Arbi Pedrossian, David Worthen Brooks, Jenna Cavelle, Josh Feldman, Jesse Ford, and Carl Reid. Written by Carl Reid and Brandon Espy; based on the short film. Cinematography by Powell Robinson. Edited by Alex Familian.

Stars Elvis Nolasco, Jerrika Hinton, Ayden Gavin, Kristolyn Lloyd, Akim Black, Jermaine Rivers, and Alex Alomar Akpobome. 

A mother must protect her son from a demented children’s show host in this feature film version of the 2022 short film.

In 1993, a young boy watching a videotape titled Mr. Crocket’s World is berated by his stepfather after refusing to eat. The video’s star, Mr. Crocket appears out of the VCR and confronts the stepfather, ultimately killing him and forcing the mother to go insane. A year later, Summer and her son Major are grieving the death of their beloved husband and father. Major begins to act out as a way of grief, forcing Summer to try her best only to go over the edge one night.

This attracts the attention of Mr. Crocket, who kidnaps Major and brings him to his show. When Summer discovers what has happened to Major, she learns something horrifying about Mr. Crocket. WIth the help of Rhonda, whose son was taken last year, and a young man named Eddie, whose daughter was kidnapped, Summer is determined to find a way to end Mr. Crocket’s reign of good humored demonic fun forever. 

Based on a 2022 short film, director Brandon Espy brings this feature film adaptation of a children’s show host who will go to great lengths to protect the innocent children victimized by abuse. That does mean killing the parents and “rewarding” the kids by taking them to be a part of his show. The film goes up there with classics like Ringu and Ju-On (and their Americanized reboots) and brings a vibe that will bring something like The Banana Splits Movie to mind: a children’s show gone horrifically wrong. 

Elvis Nolasco brings in a terrific performance as the titular Mr. Crocket. For a good portion of the film, he brings this charm to the role. Even when he’s ready to kill someone he ups the charm and brings this cheerful manner that amps up the creepy factor during and before the kill. The first two major kills of the film standout as the best of the film with a minimal kill count. One can just think with a low kill count, why not Espy do something brilliant with the kills rather than make them generic and on that note, he succeeds. 

The only issue that I had with the film was that it felt a bit slow in the middle. There is a pretty cool scene where we see one of the parents, Kristolyn’s Lloyd Rhonda, so traumatized that she developed a sort of psychic connection to the dangerous host. However, the film does get a little boring in certain spots, but finds its redemption in the final act. And here’s to hoping a sequel will happen in the future, as Espy expressed he would love to revisit the character. 

Mr. Crocket is pretty good despite some spots that made me go “ehhh” but making good use of some excellent kills and Elvis Nolasco’s amazing performance in the titular role. 

The film is now available to watch on Hulu.