Creep

When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in a remote mountain town, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.

Initially, I was very skeptical that this would be very good. It seems to have a cast and crew of around ten people, which is not often enough to make a movie. And then it is found footage, which is by far the worst trend in horror today. Even more than zombies, which is hard to believe.

There are moments that make no sense, because you might wonder why a camera would be on. That is a fault most found footage has. But you sort of have to accept that aspect. And then, it sort of gets better as it goes. Not because it's brilliant, but because the performances are rather effective. Scripted dialogue comes out sounding natural and "the creep" is just weird enough to be believable and disturbing.

I didn't really know what to expect with this film as I hadn't read many reviews, but gave it a go. It's starts off innocently enough, and the plot is easy to follow. Then we meet Josef, who right away seems a little off-kilter, but I couldn't put my finger on why until later. As the plot moves on, I felt like I'd ventured into the dark side of YouTube, when you're looking for something normal and you end up stumbling upon all kinds of crazy stuff.

The tension was very well paced and really effective, I found myself shrinking further and further down the settee. The ending was also very surprising, I was kind of expecting it but at the same time not really? If that makes sense! A good watch.

If we contrast this movie with its great grand-pappy, Blair Witch, we see just how far the found footage genre has come, which is surprising, considering that around the time of Blair Witch, it didn't really feel like there was a lot of mileage in that particular sub genre.

For me, Creep's greatest strength is the black humor. It's a seriously funny movie but never loses the tension that simmers under its surface. We've seen this kind of stalker idea many times before in conventional cinema of the nineties, such as Hand that Rocks the Cradle, The Fan and Cable Guy but this one really puts the viewer in the shoes of the one who is stalked.

Mark Duplass puts in a legendary performance as Josef. The first time we see him on screen, it's kind of hard to imagine him as the Creep he is meant to be but as the movie draws to its conclusion, he nails it.

It practically has "cult classic" stamped all over it.

Creep starts promising, but ends up being another half baked found footage movie but with good intentions. Mark Duplass is a blast to watch, playing so perfectly the charismatic psycho, making you keep till the end. The weirdness of his character helped to create some tense moments throught the film, especially those with Peachfuzz. But, as almost any other films of the genre, Creep falls in the obvious clichés: stupid jumpscares (they seriously don't make any sense), the character keeps filming when he shouldn't, etc. And my complaints don't end there. Unlike Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice (also the director) just can't act, his character is extremely unbelievable because he makes the most odd decisions. But still, Creep manages to be not a total waste because of Mark Duplass and some great tension scenes. Also the movie is very short, so you may want to give it a try, but you most likely be letdown.

Videographer Aaron is hired by a middle aged client called Josef in a mountain cabin, just for a single day shoot, but soon ends up regretting it. Josef displays some very unsettling behaviour which includes playing scary pranks, wearing a wolf mask, hiding Aaron's car keys and a constant need for buddy hugging, but these are harmless compared to the dark secret that he has. Not counting a phone call this rather short movie has a cast of just two but the characters bounce off each other well and form a compelling story line. Found footage has been done to death by 2014 but thankfully Creep does offer an alternative to the countless paranormal and zombie entries, though would a person be filming themselves performing such mundane tasks as opening the mail, putting an extra lock on their door, making a phone call, I think not. A lot of the running time is filmed in the great outdoors and these scenic shots are pretty good. If you are looking for multiple kills and gore go elsewhere, Creep is a chilling psychological thriller which culminates in a great ending. Well worth checking out, better than its sequel in my opinion. Part produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions.