I adore found footage movies. From the claustrophobic visuals to filmmakers ingeniously extracting tension from miniscule budgets – nothing gets my blood pumping like some quality epistolary filmmaking. However, after seeing so many of these films, I have no problem admitting that the sub-genre as a whole has a huge characterization problem. After all, POV storytelling and realistic dialogue make it extremely difficult to really get to know our main characters before shit hits the proverbial fan.
That’s why we’ve come to expect found footage flicks to focus more on plot than characters, as dramatic heart-to-heart conversations aren’t as common in “real” recordings as they are in the hyper-reality of narrative film. Fortunately, some of the more talented filmmakers out there have managed to work within these limitations and still come up with memorable character interactions, with the best example of this being Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass’ experimental classic, Creep.
And with the film celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, I think this is the perfect time to look back on its impressive balancing act that combines just the right amount of scripted drama with narrative improvisation.
The creative duo of Brice and Duplass is clearly a match made in heaven, but the two actually met by chance when Brice’s wife began babysitting Duplass’ children once the couple moved out to Los Angeles. The two filmmakers immediately hit it off, and their friendly chats inevitably led to discussions about possible collaborations once Brice’s love of documentary filmmaking met Duplass’ passion for eccentric characters.
Inspired by Craigslist ads and several true stories about people meeting internet strangers for the first time and being weirded out (as well as classic films like My Dinner with Andre and Misery), it didn’t take long for the duo to come up with a short outline for the project that would eventually become Creep, which was initially titled Peachfuzz. This initial treatment basically amounted to five pages of scene descriptions and conversation prompts meant to explore just how strange an interaction would have to get before the average person would start to get worried.
“I love wolves because they love deeply but they don’t know how to express it.”
Unwilling to wait for a serious budget or even a completed script, the two filmmakers simply picked up a camera and decided to shoot the film guerilla-style over the course of a week. It was only during filming that the story would be completely fleshed out, with both actors experimenting with numerous variations of each scene – not to mention at least three different versions of the shocking ending.
The found footage format also allowed them more flexibility during production, with the duo shooting, reviewing footage and then shooting some more after receiving feedback from friends and family in an attempt to make the most entertaining character study possible. During this process, the filmmakers actually realized that what was originally meant to be a black comedy was slowly evolving into a psychological horror flick, which led to the final cut of the film bearing almost no resemblance to their original idea.
In the finished film (which was renamed to Creep in order to make audiences constantly question which of the two main characters is the real weirdo), Brice plays Aaron, a videographer for hire that accepts a suspicious gig at a remote cabin in southern California. Once there, he meets his client Josef (Mark Duplass), who reveals that he’s dying from a brain tumor and has hired Aaron to produce a video diary for his unborn child. However, Josef’s strange behavior soon makes it clear that things aren’t exactly what they seem, and Aaron may very well be in mortal danger.
Premiering on the festival circuit in March of 2014, Creep was a surprisingly big hit with critics – even the ones who usually dismissed found footage movies as cheap cash-grabs. From its eerie depiction of interpersonal connections in an age of constant distrust to its unflinching portrayal of a predator taking advantage of empathy in order to get close to his prey, it’s no surprise that the film became so popular once it was released on Netflix the following year.
“Tubby time.”
Naturally, this led to the development of a sequel in 2016, with Brice and Duplass intending to turn their original experiment into a trilogy of found footage thrillers. And while the follow-up (which I think perfected the idea) and its proposed threequel deserve their own articles, suffice to say that none of this would be possible without the unique formula established back in 2014.
Psychological thrillers about manipulative maniacs aren’t anything new, but we really hadn’t seen anything like this in found footage before Creep, with the movie exploring more grounded frights than your usual supernatural threats like ghosts and witches. In fact, most of the original film’s tension comes from concentrated peer pressure rather than genuine scares, with both Brice and Duplass crafting believable characters that are just a few awkward interactions away from being too strange.
That being said, I still think the chilling finale is what elevates this strange little character drama into top-tier horror territory. It may be set up rather bluntly (in what some fans refer to as the “Chekhov’s Axe” moment), but the final plot twist still remains one of the most memorable visuals in all of found footage, not to mention a testament to how much human beings are willing to risk when searching for approval.
Creep may not appeal to all horror fans, being more of a darkly humorous character drama than a proper scare-fest like Paranormal Activity or [REC], but there’s no denying that the film’s overall sense of humanity remains un-challenged even ten years down the line. And while we can only hope that 2024 is the year that we finally see Creep 3, we at least have definitive proof that character-based found footage is possible and can make things even scarier in the long run.
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