Creep

2014 found footage horror movie

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A guy with a video camera is hired to chronicle a few hours in the life of a loner who says he has cancer and a limited amount of time to leave something behind for his unborn child.

It's interesting what you can do with a camera, a pair of actors, and a fragment of an idea. This is a little unnerving, but I also thought it was kind of funny. I'm not even sure if it was intentionally funny or not, but Mark Duplass is hard to take seriously as a dramatic actor because I've only seen him in comedic roles. Part of me wanted to assume that this is a sequel to the television series The League and assume that he slaughtered and ate the rest of the characters before this movie's story picks up.

Side note: This has two credited actors, but somebody had to do the female voice heard during a telephone conversation. Was that Duplass's real-life spouse Katie Aselton? The prospect arouses.

Duplass gives this delirious and wacky performance. His character is tough enough to figure out although you really know something is wrong from his very first appearance. I think it's the wide eyes. His best moment in this is one where he somehow manages to scare himself.

The other guy--Patrick Brice--isn't as convincing or natural in front of the camera. It gets a little in the way of the found footage verisimilitude. The use of that genre works for the most part although, as always, you have to suspend your disbelief a little with what you get to see and what you aren't seeing. Like, how does everything that ends up in the finished product something that matters without any editing whatsoever? I mean, sure it's a film that was edited in our reality, but in the movie's reality, it's supposed to be more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get scenario, right?

You have to wonder if 50% of the budget for this movie went in buying the "Peachfuzz" mask. If that was indeed purchased at a 99 cent store, it was worth it just for the shot of Duplass against a door while wearing that mask.

This is clearly one of those movies that some people will like and others will hate. It's really nothing special and adds nothing to the horror or found footage or psychological thriller genres, but it's got a humor that I like and is just different enough to keep my attention for a little over an hour and fifteen minutes.