CREEP (2015) **

Mark Duplass stars as a guy dying of cancer.  He hires a cameraman (Patrick Brice, who also directed) online to document a day in his life so that his unborn son can spend some time with the father he never knew.  Slowly but surely, the cameraman learns Duplass is a real weirdo.

Basically, it’s My Life done as a mumblegore movie.  

This is pretty much the Mark Duplass Show through and through.  Your enjoyment of the film will probably hinge on how much you can tolerate Duplass’ mugging.  I didn’t mind him so much, it’s just that the scenes of him purposefully freaking Brice out quickly got repetitive.

Although sold as a Found Footage horror film, Creep revolves more on social awkwardness than out-and-out horror.  If Brice’s character was more of an asshole, he would’ve pushed Duplass aside and walked out the door ten minutes in.  Then again, if he did that, we wouldn’t have a movie.  Even when he receives an ominous phone demanding that he leaves the house right away, he can’t bring himself to do so.

That pretty much summed up my frustrations with the film.  The fact that Brice keeps filming once Duplass starts acting bizarre (even though he’s been paid) defies logic.  (Even when he FINALLY leaves the house, he waits FOREVER to notify the authorities after Duplass starts leaving him weird videotaped messages and odd trinkets on his doorstep.)  Of course, that’s one of the conceits we’re forced to make while watching a Found Footage flick.  As far as these things go, it must be said that the shaky-cam footage is far from the worst I’ve seen.  

Another genre pitfall is that we already know that nothing really happens in a Found Footage horror movie until the last few minutes.  The same goes for Creep.  The payoff is OK I guess, but it’s not exactly worth waiting 75 minutes for.  

Ultimately, this might’ve worked better as a short.  I might’ve been able to go along with it if it was part of a V/H/S anthology.  As it is, Creep just never clicked for me.

AKA:  Peachfuzz.