HALLOWEEN HOTTIES: ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 2020!

This newest installment of Halloween Hotties features a relatively new girl on the block, though technically not a total rookie. She did first appear in season three of Scream: The TV Series in 2019, but didn’t get her first lead role in a horror movie till the 2020 Into The Dark flick Crawlers! The NYC born actress made an impression in her final girl debut as the tough, street-smart and sassy conspiracy theorist, Shauna. Shauna is a local in a small college town overrun by co-eds and under siege by shapeshifting aliens on St. Patrick’s Day. The actress displayed some solid final girl/heroine qualifications and did some major alien ass-kicking! So without further ado…MonsterZero NJ’s Halloween Hotties rookie of the year 2020 is…

 GIORGIA WHIGHAM as SHAUNA in CRAWLERS

GIORGIA WHIGHAM as SHAUNA in CRAWLERS!

Shauna is a conspiracy theorist and blogger in a small college town soon to be invaded!

Something strange is going on this St. Patty’s Day and Shauna is thinking aliens!

Shauna gathers the troops and makes a plan of attack!

Inside the nest!

Can Shauna and her new friends save the town and the world? Watch Crawlers on Hulu to find out!

 

BONUS PIC: The versatile Whigham as Goth bad girl Beth in season 3 of Scream: The TV Series.

Busy actress Giorgia Whigham between roles.
Photo: source unknown

There’s no telling where this beautiful and talented actress will show up next. She kept up with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher in season two of that Netflix series and showed some comic chops on The Orville, so versatility is already part of her rapidly expanding resume. Hopefully she’ll return to the horror genre soon, as she made a kick-ass final girl!

-MonsterZero NJ

And don’t forget to check out our previous Halloween Hotties!

Head over to the Halloween Hotties listings! to read them all!)

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: INTO THE DARK-CRAWLERS (2020)

INTO THE DARK: CRAWLERS (2020)

Emerald Springs is not only a small college town, but a predominately Irish town as well. As such, it goes bonkers on St. Patrick’s Day, but this year, March 17th takes an otherworldly turn. It seems the town is being invaded by bodysnatching aliens and it’s up to spunky, rebellious, drug-dealing local Shauna (Giorgia Whigham) to rally students Misty, Yuejin and Aaron (Pepi Sonuga, Olivia Liang and Cameron Fuller) to save the town and the planet.

Flick is directed for Blumhouse’s monthly movie series by Brandon Zuck from a script by Catherine Wignall and Mike Gan. Story-wise it’s very routine with aliens invading a small town and stealing the bodies of their conquests, but it’s also filled with some fun nods to the films that inspired it. It is a homage and one that is affectionate towards it’s influences, evoking Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1988 Blob remake, and John Carpenter’s The Thing, to name a few. Zuck moves things along fairly quickly and has a good time with the scenario to make it fun. The characters are also entertaining to watch, especially Whigham’s sarcastic, tough Shauna, who also serves as the film’s narrator, as this is played as an entry for her online blog. The flick doesn’t try to be more than it is, though there are some serious themes touched on, such as Misty’s being taken advantage of by jerk and campus stud, Michael (Zachary Roozen). Inappropriate behavior commentary aside, It’s tone is mostly all in fun, though it has some bloody moments, some well-rendered SPFX and there is an amusing 80s vibe the helps make it a nostalgically entertaining watch. No better example than the 80s-ish electronic score by Ceiri Torjussen and colorful, green themed cinematography from James Kniest.

The cast are having a good time. Leading lady Giorgia Whigham, is quite the spitfire as the sarcastic, conspiracy theorist that is Shauna. She is a delight to watch a she oozes contempt for the college students invading her town, but these party animals are most certainly the lesser of two evils when compared to the aliens also invading Emerald Springs. So, off she goes to save the world. This along with her roles on season 2 of Netflix’s The Punisher, and season 3 of MTV’s Scream: The TV Series, make her a talent to definitely keep an eye on. Pepi Sonuga is also good as the emotionally troubled, Misty. The issues of a possible date rape, add some nice depth to her character and Sonuga plays it well. Olivia Liang is fun as the bitchy, skeptical Yuejin. Yuejin is looking to replace Misty as campus queen Chloe’s (Jude Demorest) new bestie and wants none of Shauna’s alien invasion theories, despite being dragged into into the middle of it all. Cameron Fuller is solid as Aaron, a frat boy who comes to regret some of his party animal activities, when he realizes Misty and her friends are people and not trophies or conquests. A cast having a good time and getting the tone of the material.

Crawlers isn’t a great movie, but it is an entertaining one and is now one more choice to watch on St. Patrick’s Day. It has a routine sci-fi/horror story, but the director gets the tone of the homage laden script and directs it appropriately. It’s has a hip sense of sarcastic humor, as does it’s leading lady and the characters are fun to watch as they take on invading aliens while everyone else is pub-crawling. It’s cliché and no classic, but still a fun time and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome with an economical 90 minute runtime. Stay through the credits for some fun bloopers.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) pints.

**************************************************