Creep

Videographer Aaron is hired by a middle aged client called Josef in a mountain cabin, just for a single day shoot, but soon ends up regretting it. Josef displays some very unsettling behaviour which includes playing scary pranks, wearing a wolf mask, hiding Aaron's car keys and a constant need for buddy hugging, but these are harmless compared to the dark secret that he has. Not counting a phone call this rather short movie has a cast of just two but the characters bounce off each other well and form a compelling story line. Found footage has been done to death by 2014 but thankfully Creep does offer an alternative to the countless paranormal and zombie entries, though would a person be filming themselves performing such mundane tasks as opening the mail, putting an extra lock on their door, making a phone call, I think not. A lot of the running time is filmed in the great outdoors and these scenic shots are pretty good. If you are looking for multiple kills and gore go elsewhere, Creep is a chilling psychological thriller which culminates in a great ending. Well worth checking out, better than its sequel in my opinion. Part produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions.

Employing found footage in a way that actually makes sense in the context of the plot, Creep is the story of an increasingly awkward relationship between two men that feels frighteningly plausible.

The film rests upon – and succeeds because of – Mark Duplass' excellent performance as the type of person we've all met at one time or another; someone a little bit too keen to be your friend, inspiring conflicting feelings of suspicion as to their motives and empathy with regard to their ill-judged attempts at social interaction. Seen through the eyes (or rather camera) of Aaron, the only other on-screen character (played by writer/director Patrick Brice), it's clear fairly early on that something isn't quite right, but should he be worried?

Despite an occasional reliance on cynical jump scares (presumably included to ensure that the tension doesn't sag – the film is dialogue-heavy) the suspense ebbs and flows nicely and keeps you guessing as to where it will end up going. Thankfully, for a film that always feels like it's building up to something, the resolution is well-judged and perfectly executed.

Overall this is a very impressive effort and marks Patrick Brice out as a filmmaker to keep an eye on.

This found footage film follows videographer Aaron as he answers an ad to film a guy called Josef for the day. $1000. No questions asked. As Aaron spends more and more time with Josef, it becomes fairly obvious that Josef is not who he says he is, and as Josef begins to act more and more bizarre, Aaron starts to fear for his own safety.

For a low budget horror film this ticks a lot of boxes. We've all met people like this, and the way Josef is playful yet also sinister generates this uneasy vibe throughout the whole film. We are screaming for Aaron to just run and get away, and when he finally does the film descends into a pure paranoia fest. The ending was oddly interesting yet somehow unsatifying, but overall this is a great little horror that tries something new and mostly pulls it off. Give it a go.

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.

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.