Creep (2014)

I've never been a fan of documentary style movies, but this is probably one of the better ones I've seen. Like the title, it will definitely creep you out. The movie is filled with uncomfortable and awkward moments that will creep you out in a psychological way, and I guarantee you'll groan at the main character's stupidity on more than one occasion. If you like horror/thriller movies and you can't decide what to watch, I'd recommend giving it a shot.

Fmovies: When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in a remote mountain town, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.

Initially, I was very skeptical that this would be very good. It seems to have a cast and crew of around ten people, which is not often enough to make a movie. And then it is found footage, which is by far the worst trend in horror today. Even more than zombies, which is hard to believe.

There are moments that make no sense, because you might wonder why a camera would be on. That is a fault most found footage has. But you sort of have to accept that aspect. And then, it sort of gets better as it goes. Not because it's brilliant, but because the performances are rather effective. Scripted dialogue comes out sounding natural and "the creep" is just weird enough to be believable and disturbing.

I see now that critics appreciated this film just as much as I did, but I had NO IDEA what I was getting into by selecting a random horror movie I had never heard of on Netflix. Creep takes every little broken piece of horror, polishes it up, and pastes it together into a beautiful and unique masterpiece. It is extremely disturbing and unsettling without once resorting to gore, which was a breath of fresh air. Be warned that the jump scares are severe but cheesy, but for good reason. Horror fans absolutely must see Creep.

Creep fmovies. If we contrast this movie with its great grand-pappy, Blair Witch, we see just how far the found footage genre has come, which is surprising, considering that around the time of Blair Witch, it didn't really feel like there was a lot of mileage in that particular sub genre.

For me, Creep's greatest strength is the black humor. It's a seriously funny movie but never loses the tension that simmers under its surface. We've seen this kind of stalker idea many times before in conventional cinema of the nineties, such as Hand that Rocks the Cradle, The Fan and Cable Guy but this one really puts the viewer in the shoes of the one who is stalked.

Mark Duplass puts in a legendary performance as Josef. The first time we see him on screen, it's kind of hard to imagine him as the Creep he is meant to be but as the movie draws to its conclusion, he nails it.

It practically has "cult classic" stamped all over it.

If you are sick of found footage or even if you never liked it at all, please give this movie a chance.

I usually hate improvisation in movies. It almost invariably provides the most excruciatingly messy and boring dialogue on film (like This is Spinal Tap and Confetti).

But for whatever reason they made it work here. Perhaps it was a free plot structure or the limited number of characters but there is a rawness rarely seen in found footage but at the same time has such personality in both its main characters.

Josef is such a vivid character that would get anyone on edge. Watching the first time I regretted that they didn't keep their cards closer to their chest with Josef's disquieting nature but now I see him as someone who always has something chilling to say.

This got under my skin in way that is hard to do. More than some kind of incorporeal terror, getting trapped in Josef's terrible world really hits raw nerves in me.

One of the very best horror movies ever that will reignite your faith the bottom of the barrel has not yet been scraped.

Cash-strapped videographer Aaron (played by the film's director Patrick Brice) is offered $1000 for a day of filming, discretion appreciated. Travelling to a remote property in the mountains, Aaron meets his client Josef, who explains his requirements: as a cancer sufferer, Josef would like to create a video diary for his unborn son (who he has already named Buddy), and would like Aaron to document his every move during the day.

Things start off strangely, Josef immediately stripping off to share a bath with an imaginary Buddy, but his behaviour becomes even more erratic and suspicious as the day goes on, with some particularly strange stuff involving a wolf mask. Having already accepted payment for the day, Aaron takes things in his stride, but alarm bells really start ringing when the time comes for him to go home and he cannot find his car keysÂ…

I'm not the biggest fan of found footage horror, but was surprised to find myself drawn in by the unusual nature of Creep's antagonist Josef, who is, without a doubt, a very disturbing (and disturbed) individual. Although it's obvious from the outset that he's full of crap, blatantly lying about his illness, his bizarre behaviour and the mystery surrounding his real motives kept me watching.

What a shame, then, that the film fails to live up to its early promise, any hope for a truly demented denouement dashed as Josef is revealed to be nothing more than your average common or garden obsessive homicidal nut-job.

Aaron's actions throughout the film also undermine its effectiveness: I could get past the dubious notion that he would accept a job without any prior details, but his decision making skills thereafter prove increasingly questionable, the character failing to react in a logical fashion (only one call to the police, even with all that evidence—gimme a break!). There are also numerous scenes that will have the viewer questioning why Aaron would continue filming given the situation (a common complaint about found footage films).

An over reliance on very silly jump scares (one of Josef's strange traits is to hide from Aaron and then jump out on him) soon gets tiresome, and a daft ending where Aaron makes one last really, really, really bad decision is the final nail in the coffin.