We have reached a point where everyone has had it with the found-footage genre. Yes, I know it is a nice way to showcase a story when you are low on cash, but what I have come to realize through the years is that the found-footage genre has been used to make the content of a film more effective when it quite frankly isn’t. I am glad that films like “Creep” prove me wrong. It’s an effective slow-burn horror that is not always rewarding, but it still manages to get you invested in the eerie tale.
Mark Duplass is one of my favorite artists working in films today. Not because he has chosen good indie and mainstream films but because he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Every now and then, he goes back to doing what he started with his underrated 2005 comedy “The Puffy Chair.” If you have seen “The Puffy Chair,” you know exactly what you have to expect from “Creep.” Mark Duplass‘s “The Puffy Chair” was about a guy on a road trip to get a chair for his father’s birthday. It was astounding to see how he managed to encompass real-life situations with heart-warming relationship jargon. I agree that these films do not have anything humongous going on, but their subtle outlook wins you over.
Directed by Patrick Brice and streaming on Netflix, “Creep” is about two people whose unsettling form drives the film through a series of surprises and chilling black humor. Unlike most found footage films, the camera has a purpose here. It’s not some random teenager filming everything on their phones kind of a deal. It’s also good to see that it’s a tad bit subversive from the typical found-footage film. The jump-scares are intentionally silly because the makers know their purpose.
Also read: Paddleton Netflix Review
Talking about the plot of Netflix’s Creep, videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice), via a Craigslist ad, comes to a strange house in the hills where he is asked to film Josef (Mark Duplass), who insists on making a video diary for his to-be-born child, much like Michael Keaton‘s 1993 film “My Life.” What follows a series of animalistic, misogynistic, weird-tempered back and forth between two people.
Josef acts as an unwelcoming home-sapien trying to make things right. But you can see in his eyes that he is not as simple as he makes himself to be. Coming with a knockout pay-off, Brice’s film is not a typical horror. It’s not even a thriller because it does take its time, and there aren’t many thrills to be had. But for patient viewers, it drops off bombs every now and then, which don’t always have a great payoff but are interesting enough to sit through. People who like horror films and indie comedies will find a strange mixture of the two here.
Duplass plays a complete wacko in Creep. His performance is enough dough for you to chew on. Playing a paranoiac wolf-loving asshole, he excels in everything his character had to stretch though. His humor makes you cringe. It is not creepy as hell, but it’s definitely a ring-o-bell. Partick plays the receiver of all the strangeness, and he plays Aaron really well. There were a few times when I saw the creepiness overtake his nature. I mean, who lives alone the way he did? Was His breathlessness just something the camera caught on? Well, these are questions that can never be answered, I guess.
Final Verdict: Creep is a very interesting character study. However, if thrills and horror were what the makers were aiming for, I don’t really believe they succeeded here.
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