Let's get this straight right out of the gate: I do NOT like "found-footage" films and never have. Even the much ballyhooed "Blair Witch Project" was horrible in my opinion but I do understand why people that don't have any money to make their film go this route.
Instead of just giving my personal opinion of this movie based on my own biases I tried to have an open mind and see the film for what it is based on whether the acting or the idea behind it was any good. While it was going on I didn't really like the movie, but now that I have had time to process it I consider it to be very well made. I don't know how much money they spent on this, but it was produced by someone who actually does have money but it appears as thought the decided to use very little of it on this.
The movies starts out in a way that almost made me give up on it immediately since I can not stand the hand-held basic camera feel that any movie of this sort has, but that is exactly what you are in for in Creep since it kind of has to use this format to fall into the "found footage" category of films.
This is a horror film although it uses almost no music and zero sound effects other than the stuff that naturally happens in the scenes, therefore it is left up to the two actors in the film to provide the mood for the entire film.
The story is simply about a struggling videographer named Aaron who accepts a job out at a remote cabin for a client he has never met. He goes out there an meets his client "Josef" who starts to display rather strange behavior right from the start. Josef explains that the has an inoperable brain tumor and needs Aaron to film his daily life for his unborn child who he believes that he will never meet before it is born.
Josef's choice of filming locations become very odd right away and uncomfortable for us the viewers to watch such as when he decides to take a bath with "baby" who doesn't yet exist and does so in an incredibly creepy fashion. This is one of the things that I later realized was actually brilliantly filmed because without the assistance of any sort of special effects or expensive sets or music, this one actor in a bathtub is able to make every audience member feel incredibly uneasy.
Later, the situations that Aaron and Josef find themselves in become increasingly hostile and weird including a mask that Josef puts on in order to sing a song from what he claims is a childhood character that his father introduced him to called "Peachfuzz."
This is clearly not the actions of a normal family in Josef's past nor is it normal for Josef to be doing it now and portray it as if it was something people would simply do around one another. Aaron clearly wants to get out of here but even though it is not said, he sticks around presumably because he needs the money.
I'll stop talking about it now but realize that this is not a huge reveal about the film since all of this happens relatively early in the movie and it appears in the trailer as well.
What makes this movie pretty great is that without having really any money at all, this film is able to fill you with dread despite the fact that the shaky camera and low budget scenes are really nothing to get excited about. Even some scenes that seem silly at first will stick with you later with how eerie they are and how uncomfortably they make you feel when you are watching them.
This is not something that is easily accomplished without resorting to gore or high budget big scares and special effects the likes of which we would see in other types of horror films.
Overall i would say if you don't hate found-footage films this is a good one for you and even if you don't care for them but can still appreciate what people with good vision and a great idea can do with the genre, maybe give this a look. I promise you will be made at least as uneasy as I was during the whole thing. I realize that my opinion is biased because I struggle to watch shaky films and this of course is factored into my overall rating. It gets big points for originality though.
My overall rating: 6.5 / 10
