Now available on disc from Anchor Bay
A child-star turned laundromat owner is going through depression when suddenly his childhood series is being revised, a beautiful woman shows interest, and a sock pile comes to life.
Written by Jim Wald and Sean Whalen and directed by the former, Crust is an odd bit of horror-comedy-drama that toes the line of ridiculous and over-the-top in terms of story, but the way the story develops pulls at the heartstrings and the direction by first time director Whalen is charming with touches of sadness. The film as a whole is emotional, much more so than expected, with touches of gross out humor, and a whole lot of unexpected surprises. The writing here is great and the direction shows a knack for details and character-oriented scenes. The sock monster may be an allegory, but it’s also a full-blown character and it works rather well, leading the film into a dark and charming modern fairytale (the Grimm kind more than the Disney kind).
The cast here is led by Sean Whalen who does really well as Vegas, a former child star whose childhood show is coming back, something rather close to reality on paper, but the character here has to be different from him (for many reasons), something that is hard to prove given how well he plays him. Joining him as Vegas’ potential love interest Nila is Rebekah Kennedy who is great in the part, being sweet yet pushy and clearly hiding something. Her acting sells the character and makes the viewer want to root for her as well as Vegas. In smaller parts, viewers will notice Alan Ruck, Daniel Roebuck, and Felissa Rose, the latter of the three being an actress who seems to be constantly working and who is bringing the crazy just right to this part. A few smaller parts will have indie horror fans happy at seeing some of their favorites pop in and out of the story.
The fim’s mood here is heavily influenced by the black and white cinematography by Jaren Lewis which makes the laundromat look almost romantic at times while bringing a bit of a film noir aesthetic to the film. The images here are crisp and clear with a moody color scheme with the high contrast black and white at times. Adding to the story, the cast, and the cinematography are the special effects that create the sock monster which is almost cute at times. The look for it is part cute, part silly, part smaller-scale kaiju, and part killer. Something about it is off, maybe a bit scary at times, while it still seems incredibly sweet to the lead. The effects used to bring the monster to life are fantastic here and show that practical is still a great way to go.
Crust is a film with a ton of heart, some sadness, a bit of depression, and a touch of silliness. It’s a mostly fun film with an entertaining take on the loner man looking for love and the random monster who is not all evil. There is a lot in here to love and the packaging of it all is quite pretty (and moody).
This Blu-ray release of Crust comes with a few extras on top of good quality high definition image and sound. Normally, this is where the highlights would be listed, but the group of extras here are all good, so make sure you check out the director’s commentary, the Q&A from the LA Premiere, and the two Dorothy features.