I have been DYING to post about this!
Alright so years back, I wanna say I was 9 or 10 so anywhere from 2012-2013, maybe even earlier, is my best estimate (hell, I would say the late 2000s was when this thing was probably made), my parents were up watching horror films & such on tv & ofc they didn’t want me in the living room. Being nosy as I was, I hid in a very small corner of the hallways that lead up to the living room where I could see the tv but they couldn’t see me.
I think the network was Starz? Something affiliated with Starz, I’m adamant. I think I came right at the beginning so ofc I didn’t catch the title, but it started with this family, two human parents & really shoddy hand puppet children. They were driving back home at night (possibly in a storm) with a kitten they picked up. They go home & all & set the kitten in the kitchen. Everybody’s getting ready for bed when, I believe the mom, walks in the kitchen & finds the kitten now dead & the phone cord cut. The person who broke into the house shows up, dressed as the grim reaper (if not, was the grim reaper), kills the mom & dad. Those hand puppet kids were in the shower & quickly get killed in there shortly after the parents. I think at that point, for some reason, it scared my little child brain enough to make me retreat to the back room.
The effects were obviously, I’m sure purposefully, low budget (ketchup blood, stuffing in place of gore, kitten was clearly a doll) & the reason I think it was some sorta Starz network was cause their bumper played shortly after. I’ve asked my mom about it on & off over the years but she doesn’t seem to recall the title, but remembers me running into the computer room after it & kinda giving me that “we warned you” talk.
I am so sure this wasn’t like some fever dream, it’s so clear to me even if I’m terrible at describing it, clearer in my mind than in my words. I tell you I’ve tried every combination of keywords I could think of, every possible date I could think of this thing coming out, I put in the years into google’s filter while searching & I still cannot find anything that matches what I saw. Maybe I just didn’t look hard enough or missed it.
I am desperate to find this thing again, cause honestly now that I think of that, something like that, with the low budget look & clear parody of horror films is so up my alley! Also I remember that it was just a one off thing, it didn’t seem to be tied to any series or anything. It wasn’t like a movie either, maybe some short student film or like a festival film of some sorts that the network just picked to air?