Welcome to Knockout Horror. We are deep into our K-O-Ween 31 Days of Halloween feature and today, believe it or not, we are going to be checking out some more found footage in the form of Patrick Brice’s 2014 movie Creep.
The story is pretty simple. A videographer, Aaron (Patrick Brice), is hired by a terminally ill man, Josef (Mark Duplass) to help him document his everyday life. With a baby on the way that he may never get to see. Josef wants his child to have some idea of what his father was like. What initially starts as some slightly strange interactions that the desperate for money Aaron tolerates. Quickly takes a turn for the sinister and strange when he can’t find his keys to leave.
Interestingly enough, updating this review from the future in October 2024, Duplass is about to star in a series based on his character from Creep called The Creep Tapes. Each episode will, basically, follow a similar format to the movie here. Pretty neat to see the character getting a little more attention. Early previews have been positive but it remains to be seen how good it will be. Creep 2 followed this movie a few years later and was, basically, more of the same.
Another Found Footage Horror
Found Footage! You really only need those two words to make some horror fans shudder to their core. Naturally, the cheap to produce, D.I.Y, nature of found footage has found its way into all genres of movies but horror is, undoubtedly, the place it calls home. Movies like The Blair Witch Project, REC, and Paranormal Activity constantly reminded viewers that this style could really work.
After all, people experiencing scary situations and then filming them on whatever camera they happen to have lying around is not a new phenomenon. In a lot of ways, horror and found footage make for perfect bedfellows. The only problem is, the approach has been exploited so much by so many low talent film makers that it has become frayed, thread bare, and extremely worn out.
When people hear the words Found Footage Horror, they immediately assume the worst. They are instantly seeing visions of shaky cameras, people wildly screaming while doing their best impressions of the cast of Blair Witch, and hokey looking monsters and spirits littering the screen. Even the few movies that stand out for being particularly great don’t appeal to everyone. So How does Creep hold up?
One of The Best Examples?
The great thing about the use of found footage here is that it makes total sense. Aaron is a videographer who is desperate for money and Josef is someone who wants to employ his services. This isn’t a case of someone bringing a camera along and filming every little last thing regardless of danger to themselves or inconvenience.
Josef wants Aaron to keep filming to maintain the intimate nature of the video diary they are making. When things start to go wrong, Aaron keeps on filming to document his suspicions and to protect himself.
One of the major barriers to enjoyment of these types of movies is completely pushed aside. Nearly every subsequent moment of filming is explained and makes sense. The camera only roles when it needs to. Something which does a brilliant job of keeping everything extremely tight and suspenseful.
After all, if the events are being filmed then there has been an escalation or there is about to be an escalation. It’s a very clever way of keeping the pacing up and keeping the viewer engaged. There is very little downtime outside of the initial moments of learning about the characters.
This is something that is particularly commendable given the mumblegore nature of the movie. A genre made popular by directors like Joe Swanberg (V/H/S). This approach is dependent on retro-scripting and extremely believable performances to keep you engaged. Lest the movie turn into scene after scene of awkward, directionless, preamble. It never feels like Creep wanders away from the necessary and the important. Everything has a point and everything matters.
A Genuine Creep
We only have two character here outside of a brief conversation with someone else on the phone. So it goes without saying that the movie is very dependent on our antagonist being both compelling and threatening. Josef is, very much, deserving of this accolade. Performed wonderfully by Mark Duplass, Josef is a character that ranges from being affable and nice to insanely creepy.
While other horror movies are attacking the viewer with numerous moments of visual nastiness. Creep only needs one thing and that is the wildly unpredictable Josef. The strange thing is, he can be tremendously likable, if not a little overbearing. He’d make for the most perfect type of neighbour if it wasn’t for his somewhat psychotic tendencies.
There are numerous moments here that are beyond unsettling. Josef wearing his Peach Fuzz wolf mask is something that presents as slightly odd, at first, before turning into nightmare fuel later on. The aforementioned phone call midway through the movie serves to add to the fear and the tension ramps up majorly from there. As I mentioned earlier, this is a mumblegore movie at its heart so expect minimalism. But Creep is likely to stay with you for just how effectively scary it can be.
An Interesting Process
Given the nature of just how effective Creep is as a horror movie. It is something of a surprise to know that director Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass had originally intended Creep to be a black comedy. Sure, you can see that here and there with the movie having a few moments of deliberately awkward silliness that would fit in nicely with this approach. But the movie is just so dark and harrowing that it is hard to imagine it ever being truly comedic.
The pair spent time together writing an outline for the movie before improvising and recording scene after scene over the space of a week. Showing the resulting collection of footage to their friends, it became clear that this was far more of a horror movie than anything, leading to what we have here.
Obviously there are a few issues here. People who dislike found footage, at its core, won’t find a whole ton to change their mind here. The format is used very effectively for some surprising jump scares but it does fall foul of some of the genre’s typical issues.
There are a number of moments that will have you second guessing the character’s actions. Why didn’t they run away? Why didn’t they call the police? Brice and Duplass do try to answer these questions in a number of scenes and, due to this, Creep doesn’t feel anywhere near as silly as many found footage horror movies. But some people will find it a bit ridiculous, in parts.
Acting is fantastic, particularly from Duplass. He is genuinely intimidating thanks to his unpredictable nature while also managing to perfectly convey the idea that Josef could be quite a nice guy. Brice is more reactionary, acting as something of an avatar for the viewer, but does a nice job. The ending is utterly brutal, one of the more viscerally shocking in recent horror history, in fact.
Should You Watch Creep?
You should definitely watch Creep. It is a genuinely effective horror movie with a seriously sinister antagonist and some genuinely shocking moments. Sure, it might not convert people who hate found footage but it is one of the better examples of the style. Well acted, often funny, frequently scary and with a compelling premise that offers tons of opportunities for revisiting. Creep is very much worth watching.
