Creep Is…Well…It’s Creepy

By Dave B.

​Creep (2015, currently on Netflix) is a found-footage horror movie about Aaron, a young man who answers an ad to film Josef at a house in a remote mountain town. When Aaron arrives to the house, he learns that Josef (played quite eerily by The League’s Mark Duplass) has terminal brain cancer and wants to leave a day-long video message to his unborn son, who he may not live to see. All is not how it seems however, and Aaron finds himself in a situation that he could not have foreseen.

​Surprisingly, Creep is funny! It successfully uses humor to create lulls in the intensity of the film. Not every director can pull this off, but Patrick Brice never veers too far in either the comedic or suspenseful direction. The result is that Creep is tonally odd, but in a good way. Duplass’ performance is excellent. I can honestly say that he makes Josef one of the creepiest characters that I’ve ever seen on film. He manages to switch between menace and faux vulnerability at the drop of a hat. His performance alone would make this movie worth checking out. 

​On the downside, Creep feels much longer than it’s 80-minute runtime. A big part of the reason for that is because of how Aaron is written. At times, he’s astute and his instincts seem to be on point. But inexplicably, he often becomes unbelievably naïve and foolish. This inconsistency of behavior makes him hard to empathize with. 

​Horror is perhaps the toughest film genre to define because one must weigh the intent of the film’s creators versus the impact on the audience. I personally would hesitate to label Creep as a horror film because I didn’t think it was scary. But it was often unnerving. That fact, balanced with it’s sense of humor, surprisingly good direction (considering it was a found-footage-type film) and Duplass’ performance lead me to recommend this movie. 

​Rating: 6/10