Creep (2015)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Video Maims

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass's Creep is obviously inspired by other two-hander horror thrillers, but this micro-budget, no-frills wonder gets the job done spectacularly, generating suspense through human behavior and threat.

Struggling videographer Aaron (Brice) accepts a job filming a kind of video diary for Josef (Duplass). Josef has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and he wishes to leave behind a record for his unborn son. Aaron travels to a remote cabin in the woods and meets his jovial host.

During the course of the day, Josef's behavior soon makes Aaron feel more and more unsettled. When it's time for him to leave for the day, his car keys have mysteriously disappeared. The final straw comes when Aaron intercepts a phone call from Angela (Katie Aselton), whom Josef claimed was his pregnant wife, but is really his sister. She urges Aaron to escape. But the story is only beginning.

Written by the two stars and shot and directed by Brice, the "found footage" Creep cost, by some accounts, less than $500. (Duplass said in interviews that it cost literally "nothing.") Brice and Duplass are the only ones who appear on camera (Duplass's wife Katie Aselton lends her voice for the phone call). But the pair concentrates on emotions and interactions that make the movie constantly gripping. (It helps that it only runs 77 minutes.)

Duplass is a skilled performer with an "ordinary guy" quality that can easily be molded to just about anything else, including comical, romantic, or sinister. And he understands how to make this scary stuff unfold organically, never overplaying his hand or going over the top. Brice matches him, making the most of the "fight-or-flight" response that conflict brings out in any ordinary person. His eventual decision to try to make things right is also believable.

Moreover, the filmmakers manage to make their movie work on a visual level, with creative compositions, and use of the large cabin and surrounding woods; even the jump-scares are well-thought-out. Creep may be a small movie, based on a familiar concept, but it's proof that with creativity and smart storytelling, anything can be made big.