Two married couples collide in Chris Skotchdopole’s beautifully shot and wonderfully wild Crumb Catcher, a truly unique and darkly funny home invasion thriller from the stable of Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix (The House of the Devil, The Ranger, Depraved). After blacking out during his wedding night, Shane (Rigo Garay) and his new wife, Leah (Ella Rae Peck), head to a remote house for their honeymoon. Their plans to find wedded bliss are hampered when there is a knock at their door. It’s the waiter, John (John Speredakos), and the bartender, Rose (Lorraine Farris), from the reception blackmailing Shane for something he can’t remember doing. As tensions escalate, it soon emerges that the blackmailers don’t just want money. They’re after business partners for their invention, a revolutionary device called… The Crumb Catcher. With terrific performances by the entire ensemble cast, this absurdist and satirical peek under the tablecloth is a chilling, yet hilarious, ode to the failure of the American Dream and “an insanely impressive directorial debut” (Collider) from writer-director Chris Skotchdopole, highlighted as one of the Best Horror Films of 2024 by The Hollywood Reporter.
What We Thought:
Crumb Catcher is not the movie I was expecting it to be. For some reason I thought it was a home invasion horror flick, but instead it’s a dark comedy. Unfortunately it’s light on the comedy and has some of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in a movie in a long time.
It opens at the wedding of a couple. The husband is a writer with a book soon to be released. The wife works for the publisher or marketing team (I don’t remember which it is). I instantly didn’t like the husband character because of the way he was acting during the pictures. The wife seemed controlling and her mom was involved so basically I didn’t care about them immediately. He wakes up alone in bed, she’s having an issue and they finally pack up to leave and the waiter runs into them at their car. The husband is getting odd text messages and the waiter is annoying, but they eventually hit the road.
They arrive at their honeymoon location and I’m finally expecting the horror element to kick in. I was wrong. The waiter shows up with their wedding cake and they can’t get him to leave. Then his wife, a bartender, shows up and they try to pitch the couple an invention thinking they have money because he has a book coming out. It all goes sideways from there with characters making decisions you would never make in real life.
That’s my issue with the movie, I don’t believe people would ever make the decisions these characters did. Even being blackmailed, you’re in the middle of nowhere, if you can’t handle an older guy and his wife, then shame on you. You know you’re being blackmailed and are hiding it from your new bride, but she is scared, man up and take care of the situation. Hurt them first once you realize what’s happening. Nope it all goes wonky and it didn’t work for me.
Crumb Catcher seems to have gotten a lot of praise and I really don’t get it. I hated the characters and the performances and I understand it’s trying to be different, but it didn’t work for me. It’s an homage to something you would have seen in The Twilight Zone, but maybe if the performances weren’t so one dimensional I might have liked it. It’s definitely not the movie I was expecting.
Bonus Features:
- LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- High-Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original 5.1 surround sound audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new commentary by writer-director Chris Skotchdopole, recorded exclusively for Arrow Video in 2025
- Catching Crumbs: The Making of Crumb Catcher, a 38-minute behind-the-scenes, featuring interviews with the film’s cast and crew, created exclusively for Arrow Video
- The Egg and the Hatchet (2016), a short film by Chris Skotchdopole starring Taylor Zaudtke and Jeremy Gardner (21 mins)
- Camp Out (2010), a short film by Chris Skotchdopole (13 mins)
- Original trailer
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring an introduction by producer Larry Fessenden and new writing on the film by Richard Newby and Tori Potenza
- Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Tessa Price and Sister Hyde
The Nerds Templar 