Aahana Swrup
‘Mr. Crocket,’ the Hulu horror film, transports the viewers to 1993, when Shurry Bottom, a town in Pennsylvania, oversees a series of unbelievable events. A VHS tape for an old children’s show makes its way around town, transfixing numerous kids with the host, Mr. Crocket. However, at night, the upbeat man somehow travels out of their television screen, brutally killing their parents and taking the kids away. As Summer, a recently widowed mother, loses her kid, Major, to the children’s show host, she embarks on a mission to save her son from Mr. Crocket’s mind-controlling spell.
Consequently, Summer finds herself undertaking a wild adventure that takes her across dimensions in her quest to bring her kid—and others like him—back home. However, does her home—the small town of Shurry Bottom—exist beyond the film’s narrative?
Shurry Bottom is a Fictional Town
Throughout its narrative, ‘Mr. Crocket’ equips multiple fictional elements, including the titular children’s show and its host, to bring its overarching fictional storyline to the screen. The same remains true for Shurry Bottom, the town that unwittingly falls victim to the demonic entity’s terrorization. Throughout the film, Mr. Crocket targets numerous kids coming from various backgrounds. Nonetheless, all the kids share their residence in Shurry Bottom, Pennsylvania. Mr. Crocket has to infiltrate his victim’s house through his VHS tape in order to slither his way into their lives. For the same reason, he targets one singular neighborhood.
Narratively, this focuses the storyline into one concentrated area that grounds Summer’s adventures. Still, the story employs a fictional town to serve this purpose. Shurry Bottoms is not a real town in real life and instead remains confined to the film’s fictionality. Hop Bottom, a real borough in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna County, is the closest counterpart one might find to the on screen town. Yet, as far as similarities go, the two fail to have any besides their kindred names and shared existence in Pennsylvania. In fact, the project’s filming took place in New Jersey, further distancing Shurry Bottom from any actual towns in Pennsylvania.
As far as Shurry Bottom’s location in Pennsylvania goes, it’s possible that ‘Mr. Crocket’ takes inspiration from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The show, ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ serves as an inspiration for the film’s “Mr. Crocket’s World.” Therefore, considering the former was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it is likely that ‘Mr. Crocket’ wanted to preserve a sense of connection to the state. For the same reason, it might have set the fictional town of Shurry Bottoms in the state of Pennsylvania as a subtle nod towards the real-life children’s show. Nonetheless, outside of the same, the fictionalized town has no connections to Pennsylvania. Ultimately, it’s a fictional element with no basis in reality.
Read More: Mr. Crocket Ending, Explained
