October 14, 2018
Written by: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass
Starring: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass
Budget: "Creep cost no money because we used a found-footage concept and three-person crew."
Quote: "I love wolves. because they love deeply, but they don't know how to express it, and they're often very violent and, quite frankly, murder the things that they love, and inside of the wolf is this beautiful heart."
Trivia: The film is almost totally improvised. The film's 'bible' was only 'bare bones' - i.e., driving a car, while videotaping a dialogue of the trip.
I'd heard about Creep a while ago and finally got around to watching it. It was nothing like what I expected. First of all, I had no idea it was going to use the found footage concept, which I usually am not a huge fan of. Also, I was surprised at how uncomfortable and creepy a film with very little extreme behavior could be. Mark Duplass' (who knew the guy from The League was so multifaceted?) gives a great performance and I have no doubt his "creep" character will become a household name in the future. Simply put, Duplass and actor/writer/director Patrick Brice knock this one outta the park! Damn this was a great movie! It's really fun to watch the strange behavior of Duplass' creep character get more and more bizarre. It's never really clear what is real, what are lies, and what are the ramblings of a madman. Inspired by Psycho and Misery, the weirdness and obsessive qualities build and build until eventually something's got to give. What was originally going to be a dark comedy ended up a chilling movie with nothing to laugh about.
Creep is the story of a man, who calls himself Josef, that hires a videographer who calls himself Aaron to to film him for a day in his vacation home in the woods for $1000. When the Aaron meets Josef, he tells him that he beat cancer two years ago but now has a terminal brain tumor and he wants to make a "day in the life" movie for his unborn son. Things immediately start to get weird. The first thing he has him film is "tubby time," where Josef pretends to play with his son while he takes a bath. Next Josef takes him hiking where he repeatedly finds ways to scare him before carving J + A. Josef's behavior gets increasingly weird and scary. It is never really apparent if he is just a socially awkward and lonely person or something more dangerous. Eventually Aaron is forced to drug Josef after Josef steals his car keys leading to a phone call from Josef's sister warning Aaron to leave, and a brief fight with Josef before he is able to flee. After leaving, Aaron gets three messages from Josef. The first is a video of him dragging bags and digging a whole (a threat?). The second is a box with a stuffed wolf, knife, and a locket hidden inside the wolf. The third is an invitation to meet him at the lake. Aaron, naively takes the invitation but films the encounter and has 911 on speed dial. As the camera watches him sit on a bench, we watch as Josef wearing a wolf mask walks behind him and slowly lifts an axe and swings it into Aaron's head. The final scene is Josef at his own house telling Aaron how much he loves him as he puts a videotape with his name in a cabinet next to dozens of other videotapes with other people's names.
I'm not sure if this movie really qualifies as found footage or mockumentary. Probably the first. Either way, the videographer concept really helps to make this movie a terrifying film. The first person videographer narrator means that there is so much of the movie that we don't get to see. This includes both parts of the story and the visual elements not captured by the camera. During scenes when Josef is hiding waiting to scare Aaron we are helpless except to watch as the camera swings this way and that wondering if Josef is lurking just off camera. The hard cuts also help to create a disjointed feel to the film adding to the chaos of the film. Finally, and most importantly, the camera (and we by proxy) becomes its own character in the film. Throughout the film, the camera is directly addressed. Pretending to talk to his son, Josef directly talks into the camera just as he does at the end after he's murdered Aaron. Aaron during confessionals and as a documentarian also talks directly into the camera. This puts us the viewer as part of the movie. From our point of view they are talking directly to us. We are voyeurs with some complicity to the crimes committed. Like the creep, watching is our "guilty pleasure."
Like Single White Female and Pacific Heights, what also makes Creep really great is the obsessive quality of their antagonist, their increasingly scary behavior, but also the inability of outsiders to help in any way. Aaron isn't a complete fool, he does go to the police and shows them his video footage but none of the footage has Josef directly breaking any laws. The tubby scene is weird, but more sad than dangerous. There is no evidence he took his keys or means any real harm toward Aaron. Also the video of digging a whole next to bags is not a direct threat in the eyes of the law. Weird? Yes. Threat? Not really. Furthermore, Aaron doesn't really know Josef's real name, address, or any actual information about him for the police to investigate. Aaron realizes what the viewer realized, everything Josef said was a lie. This leaves Aaron as the mouse in a cat-and-mouse game he cannot win. His frustration is also felt by the viewer.
It is incredible that Duplass and Brice could create such a great and innovative film for no money. And then sell it to Netflix for seven figures! I hope this continues to herald a slew of low budget horrors. Duplass stated that the filming only used a crew of three. Almost the entire dialogue was improvised with a skeleton script that would simply say "the two go to the woods... they go to a restaurant... he cant find his keys..." It also helps that two main actors also directed and wrote the movie. It reminds me of the Roger Corman's ultra low budget genre films of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Or better yet John Cassavetes' ultra-low budget films, where he would take major Hollywood acting gigs to help finance the super low budget movies he would direct in his apartment and on the streets with his friends. Duplass' talent as a filmmaker is matched only by his acting abilities. His creep character is odd, scary, sad, and endearing at the same time. Watching his performance, like Aaron, I too did not know whether I would have ran away or given him a hug. Or maybe I'm just too naive and should take this film as a warning.
Killer film! Killer concept! Killer killer! Can't wait to see the sequel and hope the third one is finished soon! Long live the creep!
...what's your thoughts?
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