Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Crimps’

Written by Scott Edwards

​There are towns that welcome outsiders in without question, but there are others that want to keep everyone away. The small-town lifestyle has never been for me since I like to say and do things that may not always be approved of by the elders, and if I am the only one doing them, well, it just makes life a bit more difficult. If you are born into this lifestyle, you know which lines you can and cannot cross, but when you move into it, it will take the rest of your days there to get the rules down. It might not be the right place for everyone, but if you are able to fit in from day one, you are a leg up on the rest of the world.

Taking a job on a charter boat, ex coast guard pilot Eddie Hooper is getting ready to start his life over again. Running from his soon to be ex-wife, Eddie is in the good graces of Sheila who seems to have taken quite the liking to him, as the local bartender Ida has noticed. But Eddie is not ready for a relationship yet and has noticed something strange around town since there are missing persons posters hanging up all over the place. Thinking that this is odd, Eddie starts asking the right questions and most of the answers point to young Veronica Chandler.

Hearing that all of the missing men were seen around Veronica, Eddie desperately wants to ask her if she has seen his brother who went missing a couple months ago, but she is a hard woman to track down. With his focus needing to be on work first, Eddie is surprised to see that Sheila is keeping a close eye on him as well and she starts to throw herself at him after a couple drinks. While getting closer to her is not something Eddie wants to do, he does enjoy the company, along with the information that he is able to pick up about the town and its history along the way.

But all is not good in the town as Eddie witnesses a man being taken before his very eyes by a couple ghosts that come up from out of the sea. Needing to know who or what these creatures are and why they are taking heathy men from the boardwalk, Eddie starts to dig, and it all comes back to a ship that was destroyed in the late 1800s. Finding out the darker history of what happened on the ship that got caught in a sand barge, Eddie is able to pinpoint the location of where the missing men are being taken to, but the local detective is a little bit wary about the information. Knowing that he is right, Eddie is able to uncover a body to prove his point, but not only does that make him a suspect for the police, but he is now a target for the undead to find him and put him to work in the afterlife.

An interesting premise with ancient lore from the sea coming to haunt one little town. I did enjoy the final act of the movie since you get a good killing and get to see why the undead are returning to the land to collect the living. I really liked the bartender Ida as she kept the story moving and was always there for some added advice. The interactions between Ida and Eddie were probably the best in the movie until the crazy old man who hides underneath the town makes it to the screen. Like I said, the ending of the movie did provide a very good payoff and I wish it lasted a little bit longer, so we could at least get to see how the undead sailors from the sea actually took care of their business. Stay Scared.

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