Mr. Crocket, on Hulu

A lot of people owe Barney the dinosaur an apology. He is far from the world’s most detestable kiddie TV host. Compared to this sinister child-abductor, it isn’t even a close call. As a bonus, his theme song is an even more insidious earworm. However, one of the few parents he leaves alive comes looking for her son in Brandon Espy’s Mr. Crocket, which premieres Friday on Hulu.

As we see in the prologue, if Mr. Crocket hears one of young fans taking verbal or physical abuse while they play one of his VHS tapes, he comes out of the screen to administer violent retribution, taking the child back with his to his creepy nether-realm. Usually, there are no survivors, but when the mom, Rhonda, escapes his wrath, becoming a broken, crazy street lady out of grief.

Unfortunately, Summer Beverly ignores Rhonda’s crazy-sounding warnings until it is too late. Her son Major has been an eponymous pain, ever since his father tragically passed away. After a few hurtful (but from the audience’s perspective, not unwarranted) words, out comes Mr. Crocket. Of course, the cops dismiss Beverly’s outlandish account. Instead, she must team up with Rhonda and Eddie, a mysterious young man who seems to know a lot about Mr. Crocket from personal traumatic experience, to find the missing children.

The premise of Mr. Crocker, expanded from by Espy and co-screenwriter Carl Reid from Espy’s short film, appealingly pushes a lot of VHS-era nostalgic buttons. However, it feels like the final product was reluctantly dumbed-down somewhat. The obvious comparison film, I Saw the TV Glow, was too much in its own head—and way, way too preoccupied with sexual and gender identity politics. In contrast, Espy and Crocker could have dived more deeply into Crocket’s backstory. Perhaps the best example of a between-film that gets the balance right would be Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Nevertheless, Elvis Nolasco gives a terrific horror villain performance as Mr. Emanuel Crocket. If Crocket goes franchise, he will deserve the lion’s share of the credit. He shows an understanding of what made characters like Robert Englund’s Freddy so popular, while still making Mr. Crocket very much his own thing. Plus, Alex Winkler’s songs, with lyrics written by Espy and Reid, perfectly compliment his unsettlingly chipper attitude (also note, they hold a final tune for an end-of-credits “stinger).

Jerrika Hinton and Kristolyn Lloyd are both solid as the two desperate mothers. The cast is at least professional grade and often a good deal better. Unfortunately, the second half cannot fulfill the early promise of the title character’s flamboyant nastiness. It just succumbs to the usual formula.

Still, if you subscribe to Hulu, Mr. Crocket is worth checking out, as a memorable bogeyman character. If he catches on, a subsequent installment could conceivably expand and enrich the Crocket mythos. As it stands, the first film is just okay (but probably sufficient for low-expectation Halloween viewing), when it starts streaming this Friday (10/11) on Hulu.