CREEP is another found footage horror flick from the team at Blumhouse Productions. I found it suffered somewhat for having no script; as believable as they are as actors, the guys on screen can't be expected to do all the work themselves and as such the dialogue often feels repetitive and low key. The story is a simple two-hander about a video blogger who answers a Craigslist advert to spend time with a man dying of cancer. It soon becomes a psychological battle of wills between the two characters. Nothing much happens here, other than a few very mildly creepy moments, and the only time it really hits home is at the powerful twist climax. Otherwise I found it quite routine.

Videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice) takes a job to film oddball Josef (Mark Duplass) living in a remote mountain cabin. Josef claims to be a cancer survivor and that this is a video for his unborn son. At first, Josef is simply an energetic oddball with fascinating stories. His awkwardness turns darker and darker. As Josef sleeps, Aaron takes a call coming into the house. It's Josef's sister. She warns Aaron to leave immediately.

This is a two hander and let's face it, Aaron is a dud. He's mostly behind the camera but he isn't much even when he's on screen. Mark Duplass is pretty creepy but the intensity isn't there. That leaves the movie with little tension. Patrick Brice is directing and it may work better if Aaron is played by a woman. This is an indie horror with limited scares. It's a bad way to use found footage for a horror movie. By extending the timeline, this becomes a low intensity stalker movie rather than a scary horror. Even the big climatic scene has its own problem. Josef's shadow goes over Aaron who must be able to see him coming.

You could call it a character flaw and someone even suggested to me, that it was a nice "character touch". But having someone jump in front of the camera once is kind of stupid. Having him do it at least 6 times, is beyond ridiculous. Whatever the "excuse" for this behavior might be. Not to mention the other guy who falls for that stuff. The ending can be seen as powerful, but really: Why would he go there? There is no reason he would do so ... even with a camera filming it all. Something our bad guy supposedly did not know, but still managed to get another "boo" moment out of.

It's actually a shame, because he plays it really great. Our villain is the main attraction and not the guy who is "filming it all" (yes found footage again, did I not mention that yet?). But he's also that impressive that he overshadows the other guy. So much so, that you don't really care about that guy, who's making money out of filming people (for whatever reason). Mostly not plausible, especially the way our "sane" guy acts. Shame then ...