Overall Grade: (C+)

This found-footage film had its moments and was only a few scenes away from being a highly interesting thriller.

Synopsis

When a videographer responds to a Craigslist ad to record a mans life for eight-hours, he quickly finds himself out in a remote town taping a man who is much more peculiar then he could have ever anticipated.

My Thoughts

The found-footage genre can certainly be hit-and-miss and when you sit back to take in one of these films you can honestly assume it will be less than impressive unless proven otherwise.

“Creep” has its moments, Mark Duplass in the lead role the film centers around gave a captivating performance and seemed comfortable in the confines of a subtly insane character. He was charming and eerie in his delivery and the creation of his personality created a connection to the story-line as you immediately know not is all it seems. You know that there will be a major twist somewhere along the path of the story and assume it will be the lead character going full on insane but you cannot be too sure.

The other character played by Patrick Brice, who also directed and co-wrote the script with Duplass, came in with a decent performance as well, particularly as the film progress and he gets more screen-time rather than being the one filming. Sure some of the decisions his character made were bordering on Hollywood conveniences, but to his credit Brice did portray some plausible moments of inner conflict as his charter tries to adapt to the character of Josef, his quirky personality, their odd and awkward interactions, and subsequent confessions of the true make-up of who Josef really is inside. These moment of conflict didn’t make some of his decisions okay, but it was much better than other films where characters are routinely doing the most idiotic things at the seemingly worst possible time to simply give the story-line chances to scare you. This film was not a horror film, like it may be tagged, but it was a decent found-footage thriller. The two characters showed a believably awkward chemistry and later in the film as the character of Aaron deals with Josef’s splashing into his life you can feel some decent tension.

This was not an excellent film or anything close to it but in my opinion it was pretty entertaining. There was a lull in the middle of the second-act that did kill some of the pace but other than that it felt like a fresh and unique story-line that did lure my attention. As a thriller is was sub-par but for a found-footage film it was better than average. The ending was a nice twist if you don’t over-think it, and wrapped itself up nicely. I would not say “Creep” was a surprise hit but definitely a film that did not disappoint with performances that were much better than the standard for these types of movies.

With so many movie like these ending up being wastes of time, this one was certainly not. With some small tweaks and a little more editing of the script to build the tension a little more, this could have been a highly enjoyable watch. In the end like the films title, the script delivers a truly creepy character and after the end-credits rolls you can appreciate the effort the duo took into creating this one. “Creep” won’t make it to the top of your viewing list but if you are in the mood for a relatively well paced thriller that will managed to creep you out a few times then giving this film a shot will be worth the time.