A videographer answers an ad to film a strange man's life for a
day, only to find that something is very wrong with his situation. HORROR
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Creep (2014)Directed by Patrick Brice
Written by Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass Starring Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass |
Everything about Creep is bizarre and unnerving from beginning to end, as the film uses scary, realistic situations in place of actual story development. The film uses the found footage technique effectively, but I don't think it was really necessary for this story. In fact, I think the film could've been even scarier if it had been filmed in the traditional way. That isn't to say I didn't like the film. I did, but I expected more from it after hearing critics rant and rave about it for years. The finished product is a horror film that may not be particularly memorable, but is certainly impressive for a debut feature.
Both starring actors (Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass) do a great job turning literally nothing into something intriguing. The film had no script, so the entire film was built out of the characters' various conversations. That's pretty amazing to pull off coherently, so kudos to the two of them. My biggest gripe is with the third act, where the truth of Josef's stalking of Aaron is revealed. I gotta say, I was hoping for more than just Josef being a serial killer, even though his butchering of Aaron was equal parts surprising and horrifying. But after watching this character be so creepy and his deteriorating mental health coming into question multiple times, I wanted to know more. Maybe that's touched on in this year's sequel. Creep does a whole lot with so little, but it never quite adds up to a great horror flick. It has its moments and all the pieces are there, but they aren't fit together in quite the right way. I hope to see more films from both Brice and Duplass in the future, as they both have the potential to be big names in the horror genre. Creep is a step in an original direction, but it feels too much like the set-up for a larger story instead of a self-contained one. That can sometimes be a good idea, but not in this case. |