Creep - A

Quick Hit: A delightful hidden gem that allows the director and actor to turn found footage on its head, while still providing enough disturbing moments to be considered horror.


​After Heir, we’re moving on to a movie that is found footage horror. Found footage doesn’t get a lot of love these days. Some people just don’t like the format; others that are prone to motion sickness just can’t handle the herky jerky motion of the camera. Many critics call it lazy filmmaking, and indeed, in the horror genre a bunch of Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity copy cats abound.

However, overall, I’m a pretty big fan of it for two reasons.

1. No other format of film is as accessible to the masses of amateur filmmakers. Anyone with a camera can make a film this way, and while this may lead to some really bad films, it will also occasionally let a good one shine through.
2. For me at least, found footage is a great way to get directly into a film. It makes you feel you are right in the action, and films like Cloverfield and The Taking of Deborah Logan lead into that and allow for more emotional moments than you would expect.

That’s what leads me to today’s movie: Creep. It’s a handheld camera movie/found footage style, and I thought it was positively delightful.  

Except for tubby time. That is creepy as all get out.

Creep follows Aaron, a young man answering an ad for a cameraman for a day. That’s all he knows, until he gets there and meets Josef. Josef says he’ll pay him a thousand dollars to film him for the day, just being himself. The reason? Josef has a brain tumor and only has months to live, and he wants to make a video so his unborn son can see him as he is.

Right from the hook, this movie does a great job of making you uncomfortable, and Patrick Brice does a terrific job as Aaron displaying exactly the discomfort the audience is feeling (bonus points to him; not only does he do this essentially only with his voice, but he also wrote and directed the film). However, once Josef (Mark Duplass) pops onscreen (literally), it’s easy to tell that this man is.. 

Boo!

unhinged. The way he consistently acts, pushing Aaron right up to the edge then slowly and endearingly bringing him back, can only remind me of a cat playing with a bug.

The movie has some more traditional scares, but the majority of the uneasiness 

and “scariness” in the movie comes from being unsure of what is coming. For example, there is a point where Aaron turns the camera off, but we still here the sound of Josef telling a story about him and his wife. It’s really, really weird, and coupled with some of the other things that happen, it gets just about as scary as you could imagine.

I’m going to discuss the ending, so please don’t read this if you haven’t seen the movie!
*************************************************spoilers***************************************************

I'm Peachfuzz... what the eff?

"At the end of the movie, Josef essentially begins to stalk Aaron. This moves the movie into an entirely different territory, and is the first part of the movie that I begin to truly disagree with some of Aaron’s behaviors. Why he isn’t reviewing his video footage is… kind of acceptable, but not going somewhere to stay for a few days when he obviously lives alone is just plain stupid.

However, I absolutely agree with his reasoning for going out there to meet with Josef. Sometimes, people just need friends, and Aaron is obviously a good-hearted man. He just wants to do the right thing, and that’s a beautiful thing. But… it still results in him dead, despite the fact that he was Josef’s favorite.

The ending is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing there.

I’m giving Creep an "A".

Why the frown Aaaron? Oh. Cuz you're dead.

Check out more on this movie at IMDB.