Creep

The disturbing and mind-bending ‘Creep’ certainly startles with its sense of sophisticated salaciousness, so why should it not meet the expectations of its haunting and hallucinatory hedonism? After all ‘Creep’ was from the handlers that gave fright fans unnerving and twitchy thrills in fear-monger flicks such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Purge’. Granted that the found footage genre has become rather obligatory but there are moments when one can declare a sense of distinction and devilish freshness where frightfests in the realm of ‘Creep’ can compel with warped and contemptible glee. When a flinching film can muster up an erratic combination of chaos and comedy and still manage to stay on course in its horrific havoc then vehicles such as ‘Creep’ can claim bragging rights in the slight re-invention of the aforementioned and omnipresent found footage theme.

Part of ‘Creep’s unctuous appeal is steeped in the wicked and wayward imaginations of collaborators in director/co-writer Patrick ‘The Overnight’ Brice (making his directorial feature debut here), co-writer/co-star Mark Duplass and producer Jason Blum (‘Paranormal Activity’, ‘Insidious’, ‘Sinister’). These morbid masterminds effectively instill the aptly-named ‘Creep’ with bountiful black humour in this glorified goose-bump fable that proudly struts its low-budgeted, atmospheric indie chops armed with outrageous dares and scares.

Unemployed videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice) unknowingly fishes out the on-coming scrutiny when he answers a Craigslist ad requesting the secretive side of film-making. Thus, Aaron travels to an isolated cabin in the middle of the desolate mountains to meet up with Josef (Mark Duplass, from TV’s ‘The League’). The sickly Josef, proclaiming his supposedly cancer-stricken condition, wants to be filmed on video as he prepares a diary for his unborn son. Well, the gesture seems heartfelt enough under the surface and something that Aaron should handle with kid gloves, right?

Aa...

I'm pretty far from on board with Found Footage Horror, and Creep hits a lot of the reasons why. It also seems like there was no reason it had to be Found Footage in the first place. But that all said, Mark Duplass' performance is enough to elevate the piece somewhat, and kudos to director Patrick Brice for trying something new with the format.

Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.

Not to be confused with the 2004 British slasher set in Charing Cross Underground Station, 'Creep' is an American Handheld horror movie about a film-maker who answers an advert to film a dying man to leave something for his unborn child.

The screenplay and performances are not very good but the film's over reliance on annoying jump scares make some scenes fill with tension. The film tries to bring up connections with 'The Blair Witch Project' but fails to be anywhere near as good due to the fact that it is poorly executed and has unsympathetic characters.

It has a silly ending to top it all off but it leaves quite a resonating impact.

★★