Horror seems to be the most divisive of all the major film genres with the spectrum going from people who will refuse to watch any kind of horror to film to those people, like me, who can’t seem to get enough of them. As part of that latter crowd I am always looking for horror films that I may have missed and today’s film, ‘Creep’ (2014), is definitely one of those. I only became aware of this film recently when I found it on Netflix and discovered that it was critically acclaimed which came as a shock to me. Critically acclaimed and horror (or at least the type of horror of this film) do not often go hand in hand and so I was intrigued to see the film. And while the film didn’t completely work for me, I can see why it garnered the praise it has. The film is a found footage film following Aaron (Patrick Brice), a struggling videographer, who is hired to film Josef, who has been told he only has a few months to live, (Mark Duplass) for the day. The job seems a simple one, film a video documenting Josef as a memento for his unborn child, but as the day progresses Aaron starts to feel that here is something not quite right with Josef and events start to take a sinister turn.
I had an instant heart drop moment when I realised that this film was found footage. This isn’t to say that I particularly dislike found footage films, in fact I think there are some great films in the sub-genre, but the majority of found-footage films I see are mediocre at best due to the restrictions of the genre. And this film does suffer from the narrative issues that all these films suffer from (mainly why the fuck would you insist on carrying a camera around in a life and death situation) as well as in a visual sense. When making found footage films it is difficult to make a film that feels cinematic in its visual style and while this film does have a couple of moments that do feel cinematic it is mostly not particularly interesting visually. It also suffers from the fact that it is a jump-scare type film, and not entirely the most effective one. It’s all the kind of stuff you’ve seen before, slow-moving cameras round corners to reveal nothing only to quickly turn around and reveal a visual and loud noise. Because of how overplayed these types of scares are I could see them coming a mile away making the scare itself ineffective when it arrived.
However, despite what that entire last paragraph may have led you to be believe, I did not dislike this film. Yes, it does have elements of horror films that I do not enjoy, but this is only one aspect of what the film offers and there are one or two scenes in this film that are truly sinister and none of them are accompanied by jump-scares. These were the times where the film shone as a great horror and when I genuinely felt unsettled. And speaking of unsettled lets quickly move on Mark Duplass and his performance. Holy shit does he put in a five-star performance in this film. He plays Josef brilliantly, making him seem both completely unhinged but absolutely believable. From the first moment you meet the character you instantly become on edge and uneasy because of just how creepy Duplass plays him. You can sense this impending danger at every moment and every second he is on screen you are waiting for him to flick the switch and lose it, and the longer it goes without this happening the more uneasy and tense you feel. Without his performance the film is a lot weaker and would easily be a hell of a lot worse. One problem the film suffers from is that it blows it load a bit to early. There is a moment in the film shortly after Josef’s true nature is more or less revealed which feels like it is leading to the conclusion and the final act, but it pulls the rug out from underneath you and there is an extra twenty minutes of the fil that feel a little tacked on. While this final twenty minutes has its moments, you are almost just waiting for the inevitable conclusion and it doesn’t really add anything to the unease that had been built up in the previous hour. The final reveal and ending also doesn’t particularly work for me as it feels like the film goes a little too far with Josef. It isn’t a huge issue, but I feel like the film would have been more effective with a less is more approach.
‘Creep’ may not be a brilliant horror film that will leave you shaking, but as found footage films goes it is creative enough and fun enough to be worth a watch. It does suffer from some narrative and logic issues and uses cheap jump-scares on a few occasions, but it does have some genuinely scary and sinister moments and the unease that Mark Duplass’s performance creates in you cannot be understated. He is superb. If you’re a horror fan I would definitely recommend it as a good time, but if you are not a fan of horror then this one won’t be changing your mind anytime soon.