Creep is a breath of fresh air as far as found footage horror films go. It's not dependent on a dilapidated building, or bumps in the night, or people getting dragged away from the camera by an unseen force. Instead, Creep focuses on the relationship between cameraman Aaron and his employer for a day (by virtue of a Craigslist ad) Josef. They are the only two people in the film, aside from some disembodied voices on the phone. And as you may have guessed, one of them is indeed a creep.
Aaron heads up to Josef's cabin to shoot a days worth of footage. Josef has terminal cancer and a pregnant wife, and has been inspired by the Michael Keaton movie My Life to make a video for his unborn child. Josef seems like kind of a weird dude. He invites Aaron to film him in the bath tub and is prone to hiding and jump-scaring Aaron (and by extension, us) at random times. But Aaron needs the money and probably feels a little sympathy for him. And the two even seem to have an okay time at some points throughout the day. But as the time comes for things to wrap up, things get weirder - and we make our way into full-fledged horror movie territory.
While there are no major spoilers in this entry, I think Creep is the kind of film that is best viewed knowing as little going in as possible. So if unique, slow burn, found footage horror sounds interesting to you, it's worth a shot. Don't read the rest of this. It's on Netflix instant and is only 75 minutes.
So there isn't much by way of scares the first half of the film. Other than Josef's jump scares, it could pretty easily pass as a bad documentary about a weird guy. But there are little hints and moments of unease (and the knowledge that you're watching a horror movie) that slowly build up an awkward tension. And the first half culminates in a unbelievably creepy moment that I have *not* been able to shake. And I'd really, really like to.
From that point on, Creep becomes a little more of a traditional found footager - characters talking directly to the camera, documenting what is going on, trolling around poorly lit areas, etc. But it's well done as far as found footage goes. To me, there was a valid enough reason to be taping everything, and I didn't notice any significant cheats. And after the big "scare" halfway through, the film settles down a bit, but eventually gets back to a slowly escalating sense of tension that carries through to the end. I mean, you could almost consider the two halves of Creep two very effective short films - I really think either of them could stand on their own. But they work as a unit as well, and the film goes by pretty fast considering there are only two people in it.
Horror-wise? You don't get much (any?) gore or anything like that. It's much more the sense of tension that hangs over the film that makes it work. I would say there are a couple of heart-stopping moments, and if you have a phobia about people lurking around outside of your house it's probably best not to watch Creep.
It works because of the tension and also how damned creepy Josef is. It's an impressive performance from Mark Duplass - even when he's in good guy mode, he's got this manic energy and slight unhinged-ness lurking beneath the surface. We all know weird people, and Duplass straddles the line between "weird harmless guy" and "crazy dangerous guy" well. The script (by Duplass and co-star/director Patrick Brice) does a good job doling out little bits of increasingly odd behavior from Josef, so you end up with some sympathy for Aaron. You can see why he stuck around for as long as he did, but also why he hightails it when he does. (Incidentally, I can't find anything bad to say about Brice's performance as Aaron. He's clearly in the less sexy role, but does a good job playing the straight man to Duplass.)
Creep is a two-man show creatively, and at first glance it looks like a film just two people could make. I think that's part of it's appeal. But there is a rather large behind the scenes crew listed for a relatively simple looking film. But even though you don't notice it at the time (I guess you're too absorbed in the story), it's a good looking/nicely shot film, and is well lit and edited. The shots are never distracting, and I'm guessing it took a lot of work to make something like this appear so natural yet so easy to watch.
The last thing I'll say? After perusing imdb a bit, some people in the review/comments section were saying that Creep was a comedy. I honestly do not understand that at all. While there may be a *little* humor in Josef's jump-scare antics, I don't feel as though the film was ever trying to be funny. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, or those folks were just mis-reading "uncomfortable" as "funny." But I would by no stretch of the word ever call Creep comedic. Different strokes, I guess. But I think what it really speaks to is that you have to be drawn in by the film's unique and particular aesthetic for it to work. If you can't latch onto the slow-burn/awkward vibe in the film's opening half, I don't think you have much chance of enjoying it, period.
But I was absolutely drawn in. I really enjoyed Creep - it's got great performances, is well put together, and has a couple of images/scenes that are really hard to forget. Plus, as a found footage aficionado, it's good to see there is still some creative juice left in the genre. Good times.
I would definitely recommend this film.
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