Creep

This found footage film follows videographer Aaron as he answers an ad to film a guy called Josef for the day. $1000. No questions asked. As Aaron spends more and more time with Josef, it becomes fairly obvious that Josef is not who he says he is, and as Josef begins to act more and more bizarre, Aaron starts to fear for his own safety.

For a low budget horror film this ticks a lot of boxes. We've all met people like this, and the way Josef is playful yet also sinister generates this uneasy vibe throughout the whole film. We are screaming for Aaron to just run and get away, and when he finally does the film descends into a pure paranoia fest. The ending was oddly interesting yet somehow unsatifying, but overall this is a great little horror that tries something new and mostly pulls it off. Give it a go.

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.

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.

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.

At least for its first half, 'Creep (2014)' is essentially just a piece of mostly improvised performance art from Mark Duplass that's reacted to, in an equally improvised manner, by his co-star and director Patrick Brice, who films the affair in a distinctly documentary style. This naturally lends an air of unpredictability and believability to proceedings, as Brice reacts in a totally unbiased fashion to the often odd things that Duplass says and does. This doesn't mean that the overall film is directionless, however; it comes together as a surprisingly complete whole, with only a couple of elements getting caught on their unique execution. The second half isn't as successful as the first because it devolves into much more laboured, plot-heavy and, frankly, generic fare. Its ultimate payoff is rather disturbing, though; in that sense, it sticks the landing. In general, the movie is more intriguing than it is entertaining. Its two-half approach leads to an off-balance pacing, and its general subtlety is more disquieting than distressing and, as such, takes its time to take hold. It's straightforwardly enjoyable on a few occasions, though. Plus, a few of its sequences are, indeed, quite creepy. In general, it's an engaging experience. Even isn't quite as impactful as it perhaps could have been, it's an interesting experiment that mostly pays off. 6/10