Film Review - Creep (2014) - Spoilers

Creep. Is it a tired collection of jump scares, amateurish and telegraphed plot twists, horror genre clichés and one of the dumbest protagonists in film history, all tied up in dull, found footage bow? Or is it a sly send-up of all those things, a knowing look at the tropes of the slasher genre and found footage visual style? Depending on which question you answer 'yes' might determine whether you like this 78 minute long film or whether it is a waste of your time.

Aaron (Patrick Brice) is a videographer who answers an advert from Josef (Mark Duplass). Josef says he has terminal cancer and wants to create a movie for his unborn son. Josef starts out as a weirdo and only gets worse as the story progresses. Aaron sticks around, even after Josef confesses some disturbing facts about his life. After a full day of odd behavior, Aaron has had enough and manages to get away from Josef, who has been successfully getting Aaron to stay longer and longer at the cabin. Aaron thinks he has gotten away; but Josef, who says he loves Aaron tracks him down to his home and sends him disturbing DVDs and gifts. Finally, Josef asks Aaron to meet him one last time for "closure." Will Aaron rid himself of this "creep?"

Josef is disturbing from almost the first moment Aaron meets him. His idea of fun is to leap out at Aaron from a concealed location, providing the film with literal jump-scares. His first "scene" for his son is of him taking a bath with an imaginary toddler. He starts to refer to Aaron as his best friend and says that he loves him. Through all of this, Josef continues to hang around. Why? Because he's the victim, of course.

There are some good aspects to the film. Duplass is a pretty good actor and gets into the role of Josef. Although the pace is slow, at 78 minutes the film doesn't go on too long. While the only "frightening" parts are the jump scares, a lampshade is hung on them. Josef literally says he likes to jump at people to startle them, the essence of the jump scare.

Everything else is kind of a mess. While the found footage aspect fits into the story, it doesn't add anything. It looks like another filmmaker decided to cut costs and use the found footage style to provide cover for bad cinematography and a low-budget. The finale requires Aaron to behave in a way that no human being actually would, going to meet the clearly disturbed (and dangerous) Josef. Of course, he pays for it, in standard horror movie fashion.

Ultimately, the film has nothing new to offer to the slasher or thriller genres. Aaron is too dumb to sympathize with and Josef so weird that the final reveal doesn't make much sense. Josef is a serial killer and apparently has dozens of victims. But, it he follows the same pattern he did with Aaron, we have to believe that a significant percentage of the population of the US is made up of idiots. Hmmm...well, maybe that's not so far-fetched.

If you see this movie as a commentary on the clichés of the genre, then it works a bit better. But, it still doesn't say anything new. Anyone watching this kind of movie knows the tropes, understands the problems with them and has already seen films like Scream that did a much better job of turning spotlight on these stereotypes and clichés.

Not Recommended.