There’s something about home invasion movies that easily make them some of the scariest films in the horror genre. Perhaps this is because instead of relying on murderous monsters or vengeful ghosts, their fear is firmly rooted in the real world. It can be easy to imagine ourselves the victims of a robbery gone wrong, our deadbolted doors and home security systems suddenly flimsy deterrents for the strong-willed. In Crumb Catcher, first-time director Chris Skotchdopole takes on the terror of uninvited guests, resulting in a film that leaves very little to be swept up.
The story begins on the night of Leah (Ella Rae Peck) and Shane’s (Rigo Garay) wedding. Though it’s clear from the start that the couple’s relationship has some serious red flags, the two seem happy to turn a blind eye to their problems. The next morning, Shane awakes with no clear memory of what happened the night before, and the envelope full of money generously given to him and Leah by their guests is now completely empty. Not wanting to upset his new bride, Shane keeps quiet, and the two set off on their honeymoon — a romantic getaway in a beautiful, secluded house in the woods that has been offered to them by one of Leah’s work friends.
Prior to their leaving, an eccentric waiter from the night before (John Speredakos in the role of John) ambushes them in their car, offering them a bottle of champagne as an apology for messing up a wedding cake issue. Both Leah and Shane are obviously annoyed by the man’s persistence and inability to take a hint, but they do their best to politely placate him, thinking they will never see him again. Unfortunately for them, John shows up at their honeymoon house to deliver a new wedding cake — and to hold them hostage until the couple agrees to help fund John’s strange invention.
Crumb Catcher revolves around the concept of mess. From day one, Leah and Shane’s relationship has been messy. Shane is unreliable, hiding his bad decisions and flagrant indiscretions from Leah almost immediately. Though he doesn’t remember what happened on the night of their wedding, he begins receiving mysterious text messages from someone named Rose (Lorraine Farris) that seem to suggest he spent his wedding night with the wrong woman. And Leah, who works as an editor, boldly tries to hide the fact that she is selfishly invested in Shane’s book deal with her publisher only because she believes his tell-all story about his tumultuous upbringing as a person of color is going to sell extremely well. Even John and his wife—who turns out to be none other than Rose, herself — teeter atop their own unstable relationship, constantly getting into petty quarrels with each other over how they are going to successfully coerce and blackmail Shane and Leah into funding their invention which is, ironically, a literal crumb catcher.
Built to eliminate the need to have somebody else (i.e. a waiter) clean up your mess, John’s crumb catcher looks like something out of a retro ’50s movie. It’s sleek and red, and it really does nothing more than house a tiny brush which can be used to gingerly sweep crumbs into a special compartment. The idea is, quite literally, the stupidest invention ever, but the scene in which John tries to sell Leah and Shane on his product is both delightfully disturbing and humorous. There are moments where it borders on being Lynchian or Cronenberg-esque, leaving the audience wondering just what the fuck is going on. Absurdity is this film’s strength (due in part to Speredakos’ brilliant performance), and had Crumb Catcher leaned even more into this arena, it could have been a total home run.
But what holds the film back is its unwillingness to really go there. Leah and Shane’s relationship never really gets to have its moment in the sun — or the shade. Instead, we can only draw basic conclusions about their fragile dynamic that lead us to understand why they end up where they do. Shane is portrayed as a self-proclaimed bad boy, and yet, in the face of danger, he clams up, totally unable to take a stand. Leah is the one who is always left to take care of the couple’s problems, but her complex relationship to both Shane and his writing career gets hidden underneath extraneous plot. There is the sense that Skotchdopole wants to say big things about mining someone else’s trauma for money, especially when that person is a person of color, but this impulse falls short of ever developing into a hard-hitting truth. Even so, the problems — or crumbs — of the film’s relationships are prevalent enough to understand where Skotchdopole is aiming.
Despite these flaws, Crumb Catcher is a suspenseful and, at times, captivating watch. Both Peck and Garay are excellent in their roles as Leah and Shane, and the film’s small cast and sparse setting go a long way to make this movie entertaining. While Crumb Catcher isn’t going to be knocking more celebrated home invasion horror — like Funny Games or the more recent Us — out of first place, it’s still an enjoyable film worthy of a second bite.
Photo courtesy of Doppelgänger Releasing
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