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Ah, found footage. It’s usually crap. So when a barn-burner like Creep comes out, color us surprised.
Creep is a 2014 American independent found footage horror film directed by Patrick Brice, based on a story written by Brice and collaborator Mark Duplass. The film is Brice’s directorial debut, and boy is this one solid.
Creep premiered 2014, at South by Southwest, and was released on video on demand on June 23, 2015, by The Orchard prior to an international release via Netflix on July 14, 2015.
The film follows nebbish Aaron (portrayed by Brice), a videographer who answers an odd Craigslist ad, created by Josef (portrayed by Duplass). Josef is suffering from terminal cancer and wants to have a posthumous record for his unborn son. So far so good, right?
But not is what it appears to be.
Josef is, to say the least, weird. In the midst of one of Aaron’s early documentations, Josef gets naked and slips into the bath. Fine, you may say, the guy’s got The Big C and maybe he’s just cracking? But Brice and Duplass gradually reveal that Josef is a megalomaniac and yes, a creep.
Movies like Mike Leigh’s Naked, or the likes of My Dinner with Andre, rely heavily on strong performances/dialogue as there are so few characters. And here, the banter is highly naturalistic (much was improvised) and the acting’s top-drawer.
It really helps drive the cat-and-mouse dynamic between these two.
The New York Times said that Creep “is remarkable, considering its minimal means and surprising lack of bloodshed, given the genre.” Very true, but that doesn’t mean the scares aren’t there.
And Creep has just a terrific climax too.
