In the Christmas-set horror anthology All the Creatures Were Stirring (out Dec. 4) two people, played by Ashley Clements and Graham Skipper, find themselves on an unusual first date in Los Angeles.
“They go to a completely twisted theatrical show on Christmas Eve and see these absolutely crazy horror stories,” says Rebekah McKendry, who wrote and directed the film with her husband, David Ian McKendry. “That’s our vehicle [to tell] all of these completely weird and terrifying Christmas stories.”
“[I don’t want] to give away too much,” says David. “But segments revolve around office Christmas, last minute shopping, traditional Christmas fairytale-telling, a lot of things like that. Just a lot of vignettes of Christmas, bringing out that twisted side of Christmas that we know is there, but try to keep hidden.”
The cast includes a number of horror genre notables, including Skipper (The Mind’s Eye), Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Matt Mercer (Dementia Part II), Amanda Fuller (Creature), Jesse Merlin (Beyond the Gates), and Chase Williamson (Victor Crowley) as well as Jonathan Kite (2 Broke Girls) and Constance Wu, who shot her role prior to filming the box office hit Crazy Rich Asians.
“She worked before with one of our producers, Morgan Peter Brown,” says Rebekah. “We just reached out and said, ‘We love your work on Fresh Off the Boat, have you ever thought about doing horror?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, I love it! We sent over the script and she thought it was hilarious — because she’s in one of the more comedic segments. [The success of Crazy Rich Asians] was a pleasant surprise. [Laughs] One day, I was driving back from Hollywood to the Valley, and I rounded the corner, and on the side of the building was her, and it was this giant sign for Crazy Rich Asians. I took a picture of it, and sent it to the producers, and was like, ‘So, this is happening.’ It was just a wonderful surprise.”
Will a screening of All the Creatures Were Stirring become an annual Christmas tradition at the McKendry household, which also includes the couple’s two young children?
“I would love that,” says David. “That would be a lot of fun.”
“I assume our kids are going to rebel against us in every capacity,” says Rebekah, who is also one of the hosts of the horror movie podcast Shock Waves. “I’m just assuming that they’re going to hate movies. But until they do we’re going to make them watch it!”
All the Creatures Were Stirring is released on DVD, On Demand, and on Digital Video, Dec. 4.
Exclusively watch a clip from the film, above.
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