EXCLUSIVE: The international and indie distributor Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to A Creature Was Stirring, a previously unannounced Christmas horror-thriller, starring This Is Us alum Chrissy Metz. (Check out the first still from the pic, which wrapped production in July, below.)
A Creature Was Stirring follows the overprotective mother and professional nurse Faith (Metz), who keeps her teenage daughter (Annalise Basso) locked securely in her room and subjected to constant methadone injections, their only means of sustaining a delicately balanced fever state that keeps a mysterious and terrifying affliction at bay. However, when a pair of strangers (Scout Taylor-Compton and Connor Paolo) breaks into the home while seeking shelter from the Christmas blizzard, they quickly discover that this mother-daughter relationship stretches the limits of both dysfunction and reality, and that the women are hiding a terrible secret — specifically, the presence of a malevolent houseguest who won’t be content to lurk in the shadows much longer. (Hint: it ain’t Santa.)
Damien LeVeck is directing under his Skubalon Entertainment production shingle, which is best known for The Cleansing Hour, a horror standout that bowed on Shudder in 2020 and became one of the platform’s most popular titles of the year. Newcomer Shannon Wells wrote the script, which was an Academy Nicholls competition quarter-finalist. David Guglielmo (The Standoff at Sparrow Creek) cast the project, with Face Off‘s Tate Steinsiek designing and creating its practical creature effects. Natalie LeVeck (The Cleansing Hour) is producing for Skubalon, alongside Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package) for Paper Street Pictures. Well Go USA’s President and CEO Doris Pfardrescher is exec producing alongside the company’s Brennan Lane.
“For genre fans, this film has it all: a spectacular practical monster, unexpected twists and turns, and the phenomenal talent of Chrissy Metz in a kind of performance no one has ever seen from her before,” said LeVeck. “All of these elements are further amplified by the incredible abilities of Annalise, Scout and Connor, who are already much beloved mainstays of the horror community. Fans will relish each actors’ dark transformation for this twisted tale, which—paired with Tate’s unparalleled ability to bring nightmares to life on-screen—elevates this film beyond even my wildest expectations.”
“The story itself conjures up this disturbing portrayal of how guilt, dark secrets, personal vices and mental illness can combine, fester, and eventually end up eating you alive—perhaps even literally,” added Well Go’s Pfardrescher. “Horror fans especially will be thrilled by the homage paid to classic creature features, particularly in the use of only practical effects to bring this nightmarish vision to life onscreen.”
Lane negotiated the deal for A Creature Was Stirring on behalf of Well Go USA, with Jordan Dykstra of Film Bridge International and Natalie LeVeck on behalf of the filmmakers.
Metz is repped by CAA, Luber Roklin Entertainment and attorney Steve Warren; Basso by Gersh, Greg Wapnick at Luber Rokin Entertainment and attorney Mark Gochman; Taylor-Compton by Greg Wapnick at Luber Rokin Entertainment; Paolo by Link Entertainment and Paradigm; and Damien LeVeck by Josh Weinstock of Sea Smoke Entertainment.
