Mr. Crocket has the smell of an old creepy pasta story… one that was already turned into a tv series called Channel Zero: Candle Cove. The idea of a half-remembered children’s tv show that was just a little off kilter is a fine source of eerie vibes.

In this case, it’s a show starring a friendly bow-tied fella named Mr. Crocket. He exists in the tv world… and will straight merc you if you are a bad parent… and take the child away to his infinite tv show (or something like that). One mother isn’t having it though… one bad day doesn’t mean the man on the tv wins.

When this film is establishing itself and introducing a mystery, it’s pretty intriguing. But the more it reveals about Mr. Crocket and the more it spends time in his realm, the cheesier it gets. Not Crocket himself… that’s kind of his point to be an overly friendly Bill Nye x Pee Wee Herman x Mr. Rogers type. But more the elements around him… both the set and the whole movie’s production kind of feels cheap and unthreatening.

And none of it’s particularly scary except in the first act. It can be gory with some weird feeling kills that don’t really match the style of the movie. And the animatronic monster on the evil set look good but don’t really work well enough to be a threat either.

But I think there’s something interesting with this villain character… but I’m just not sure he’s franchise material. For a one-off film, if that’s what this is, he’s fairly entertaining and his mystery somewhat interesting. But I don’t think he’s got much shelf-life because he barely filled up the time in this one movie.

Still, it’s watchable and reasonably entertaining… for a one-off. I’d love to be impressed by a sequel… but I have doubts.

Score: 75