"Pinteresque Black Comedy...Up to a Point"
Writer-Director Chris Skotchdopole's feature debut, made with the backing of Larry Fessenden, is getting a Blu-ray release from Arrow Films.
Prickly, bickering newlyweds Shane (co-writer Rigo Garay) and Leah (Ella Rae Peck) leave their hotel the day after their reception, managing to finally shake off John the annoying waiter (John Speredakos), and head off to spend their honeymoon at a remote house owned by Leah's boss.
Unfortunately, John follows them, with his wife Rose in tow.
John claims to be there to deliver a cake that never made it to the reception but what the two of them are actually there for is to pitch their new invention, the 'Crumb Catcher'. As the atmosphere starts to feel distinctly threatening Shane and Leah realise they may have to resort to extreme measures. And that's exactly what John and Rose are thinking too.
CRUMB CATCHER has a running time of 103 minutes and that's really too long. The opening act drags and could easily have had ten minutes taken out. The highlight of the movie is the scene in which John & Rose pitch their useless (if beautifully designed) machine, and it's here that CRUMB CATCHER starts to come alive and suggest we're in for something distinctly quirky. But it all goes downhill from there, sacrificing its strange Pinteresque vibe for violence and running around. As such, CRUMB CATCHER would have worked much better as a short film with everything else feeling like padding to make this into a feature.
Extras include a commentary from Skotchdopole, a 38 minute making of featuring cast and crew (including Larry Fessenden) and plenty of on-set footage. We also get two Skotchdopole short films: Camp Out from 2010 (13 minutes) and The Egg and the Hatchet from 2016 (21 minutes) starring indie favourite Jeremy Gardner. The set also comes with a booklet featuring new writing on the film & a reversible sleeve.
Chris Skotchdopole's CRUMB CATCHER is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Films on Monday 14th July 2025
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