Why So Blu?

Creep (Movie Review)

There is a genuine, chaotic sense of menace that possesses every frame of “Creep,” and it will dig deep into your psyche and fester long after the film’s 82 minutes are over. The “found-footage” style of filmmaking is one that has remained stagnant for many years, employed only because it’s fast and cheap. If it is to successfully continue, auteurs should study “Creep” and recognize why it works so well. However, if found-footage were to swiftly evaporate from the mainstream, it will have ended on a very high note.

Like many great films, “Creep” is deceptively simple in premise. Aaron (writer/director Patrick Brice), a freelance videographer, accepts a Craigslist job in a secluded home deep in the mountains to film a day in the life of Josef (co-writer Mark Duplass). I don’t need to tell you that events slowly spiral out of control, but I’ll say it anyway. I had no knowledge of this film prior to watching it besides the synopsis on iTunes, and that is how you should approach it. I watched the trailer after, and it doesn’t exactly spoil anything, but it does show a number of moments that were thrilling to enjoy for the first time. Watching them in a trailer prior would have deflated their impact.

Brice and Duplass portray their characters flawlessly. Aaron is naive and just a bit too trusting and Josef is too earnest, providing bits of raw emotion at the most uncomfortable moment. They have wonderful chemistry together, and if there’s any justice, we’ll see them acting together in other projects. The highlight, a conversation halfway through, delivered behind a black screen, is one of the most unnerving moments you’ll experience all year. “Creep” keeps you guessing for as long as it can before showing its hand, and the payoff is absolutely worth the buildup. For most of the running time, I had no idea where it was going. It’s a two-man show – literally! Besides Brice and Duplass, we never see any other humans, a wise choice so our attention is constantly on them. It’s also to the film’s benefit that it never seems restrained; nothing about the film holds back, and the use of the found-footage style is always appropriate. There are clever transitional tricks used which I have never seen before in this type of film, I don’t want to spoil it, but it will put a smile on your face.

If the film stumbles at all, it’s in the final fifteen minutes, where a character exhibits a lapse in common logic. A dumb course of action is made that contradicts what we have seen earlier just so that the story can progress. It’s not nearly enough to sink the film, but it did break the tension momentarily.

No other film this year has balanced comedy and dread so effectively as “Creep.” This is a film that knows how to use the humor to escalate the terror rather than ease it. Not only is “Creep” one of the best found-footage films, it’s also one of the most compelling and energetic horror films in quite some time.

Film 

Jordan Grout

I never stand in front of the elevator doors when they open. All because of the movie The Departed.