I’m a huge fan of the found footage genre but one film that has eluded my grasp for many years is 2014’s Creep. Over the years I have heard so many great things about the film, and despite having the entire thing ruined for me a long time ago I recently discovered that the film (along with its 2017 sequel) was on Netflix. With a brief seventy-seven-minute runtime, I took the plunge into what is arguably one of the most believable found footage films I have ever seen.
When offered a thousand dollars to spend a whole day following a guy with a video camera, struggling videographer Aaron (Patrick Bryce) jumps at the opportunity no questions asked. But when Aaron meets Josef (Mark Duplass), a man dying of an inoperable brain tumour, it becomes clear that Josef wants to chronicle his final days for his unborn child.
But when inconsistencies start to crop up with Josef’s story and his behaviour becomes erratic Aaron starts to fear for his life as he becomes trapped in this man’s remote mountain home.
When offered a thousand dollars to spend a whole day following a guy with a video camera, struggling videographer Aaron (Patrick Bryce) jumps at the opportunity no questions asked. But when Aaron meets Josef (Mark Duplass), a man dying of an inoperable brain tumour, it becomes clear that Josef wants to chronicle his final days for his unborn child.
But when inconsistencies start to crop up with Josef’s story and his behaviour becomes erratic Aaron starts to fear for his life as he becomes trapped in this man’s remote mountain home.
The most common criticism I see levelled towards found footage films is that people fail to believe that someone would keep filming in situations as dire as our protagonists often find themselves in. Whilst some more modern films such as 2016’s Blair Witch explain this away by using cameras physically attached to people’s bodies, eliminating the need to hold a camera, Creep manages to sidestep this issue very well by having the majority of the film play out like a series of interviews. The only time the camera is rolling is either when Aaron and Josef are talking to each other and chronicling Josef’s story as per Aaron’s reason for being there, or in some of the films latter sequences where a camera has been set up by Aaron for his own personal safety.
The fact that this film also never strays from the realms of one hundred percent plausibility with nary a monster or ghoul in sight only makes this more effective as you do feel like you’ve stumbled across some poor bloke’s final days as he is hunted by a maniacal serial killer.
It ultimately is the ending of the film that seals the deal on the whole concept so beware of spoilers from here on out. Aaron is put into a lose/lose situation by either agreeing to meet Josef in a public space to hash out whatever problems the two men have with each other, or continue to be harassed by Josef the same way he has been for the last few days which has made Aaron incredibly fearful for his life. Seeing the public space as the safer bet, Aaron agrees to meet Josef only to be murdered by him without anyone noticing.
The film then reveals that Josef has been reviewing the footage and adds it to his collection of dozens of VHS and DVD’s of his previous victims in his own personal snuff film library whilst he is on the phone to contact his next victim.
For some, this incredibly nihilistic ending where the murderer genuinely gets away with it entirely and has seemingly been doing this for years may cross the line but for me it really worked with just how swiftly brutal it was.
The fact that this film also never strays from the realms of one hundred percent plausibility with nary a monster or ghoul in sight only makes this more effective as you do feel like you’ve stumbled across some poor bloke’s final days as he is hunted by a maniacal serial killer.
It ultimately is the ending of the film that seals the deal on the whole concept so beware of spoilers from here on out. Aaron is put into a lose/lose situation by either agreeing to meet Josef in a public space to hash out whatever problems the two men have with each other, or continue to be harassed by Josef the same way he has been for the last few days which has made Aaron incredibly fearful for his life. Seeing the public space as the safer bet, Aaron agrees to meet Josef only to be murdered by him without anyone noticing.
The film then reveals that Josef has been reviewing the footage and adds it to his collection of dozens of VHS and DVD’s of his previous victims in his own personal snuff film library whilst he is on the phone to contact his next victim.
For some, this incredibly nihilistic ending where the murderer genuinely gets away with it entirely and has seemingly been doing this for years may cross the line but for me it really worked with just how swiftly brutal it was.
Creep doesn’t always excel though. A lot of the dialogue feels like it goes nowhere, and Josef is very obviously lying from the outset. His admission to his lies every few minutes can get tiresome as it can become grating and a bit tedious. Add to this the films insistence on peppering in ‘jump scares’ which are literally just Josef jumping out from behind a corner and screaming can become extremely irritating and feels like the film is actively trying to piss people off with its frustrating design. But it does ultimately become worth it by the end of the film…or at least it did for me anyway.
Whilst Creep is certainly not one of my favourite found footage films, it is one of the few where I feel the genre has been used exceptionally well. It is entirely plausible that something like this could happen, and the great performance from Duplass only makes it more nerve wracking. Definitely something found footage fans should seek out.
Whilst Creep is certainly not one of my favourite found footage films, it is one of the few where I feel the genre has been used exceptionally well. It is entirely plausible that something like this could happen, and the great performance from Duplass only makes it more nerve wracking. Definitely something found footage fans should seek out.