Creep Reviews

Creep is the story of Kate (Potente), an intensely unlikeable bourgeois bitch that finds herself somehow sleeping through the noise of the last underground train, and waking up to find herself locked in the tube station. After somehow meeting workmate and would-be rapist Guy on a mystery train that runs after the lines have closed, things go awry and she finds herself pursued by what lurks beneath the city's streets. Her story is linked to that of George (Blackwood), an ex-con working in the sewer system; they meet in the final third of the film, brought together by their attempts to escape the monster that pursues them.

The pair proceed through a set of increasingly unlikely locations; from the Tube station, they end up in the sewage works before somehow finding themselves in some sort of abandoned underground surgery. Most Tube stations don't have toilets, so how one has a surgery is beyond me. Naturally, the film cares to explain that the surgery doesn't have running water. Yet it has electricity? Just one of many inconsistencies that work against the atmosphere of everyday believability that the film tries to create.

The monster itself is a problem. There's a complete lack of reasoning for its actions, it just kills people for no obvious reason. And then of course it keeps some alive for no real reason either, perhaps just so that they can eventually escape and give the film an extra 15 minutes or so running time. I understand that natural evil is supposed to be scary, but then the film attempts to explain itself via a photo of a doctor and his son, and a few shots of some jars containing babies, and yes, it is just as tired and pathetic as it sounds. It also fails to explain how the creature has been underground long enough to lose the ability to speak, communicating only in raptor screams, but not long enough for its pair of shorts to decay. Hmm.

This doctor business leads to scene that is the film's desperate attempt to implant itself on your memory, and while it is gory and uncomfortable to watch, it just isn't enough. The final third of the film hinges on an emotional relationship that never existed, and the characters break down and recover for little or no obvious reason. George breaks down, unable to cope with something despite stating that he wants to escape so he can see his daughter again, and Kate becomes emotionally tough seconds after going to pieces over someone that ripped her off for a travelcard. Yeah.

After starting out as a "this could happen to anyone" movie, it quickly falls apart as it introduces ideas that make it more and more unrealistic. A complete lack of emotional interest in the characters and an absence of suspense make this one to avoid.

Picked this one up a while ago and never got the opportunity of watching it due to being low on my priority list, Creep suddenly seemed like it was bumped to the top after reading into it and recently seeing it on a pretty well put together list of the 20 most underrated horror films of the decade. A young fashion model agent finds herself trying to catch up with a friend who has vip club tickets to an event where George Clooney is. Hoping to snag herself a real man, she gets a ride then tries to catch the last subway to the place. From the moment she wakes up to find herself alone and missing the last train, the tension builds as terror stalks Kate and tries to make sure this is the last subway she’ll catch! Now, stuck inside a locked subway station, Kate finds herself confused between what has just happened to her co-worker Guy (whom just attempted to rape her), whether it was a crazy vigilante trying to help her, or if it was killer hungry for blood no matter who’s it is. This sort of atmosphere reminds me of past films such as P2 and High Tension; where one character is fighting for her life against some other force, and somehow bodies find their way onto the screen and start to pile up. Not only are there no stupid characters, but there is not a lot of filler time, stupid dialogue and there is also a beginning scene which sets the mood real well. This film is an example of using the right camera and lighting with minimal extras, but ones that actually count and leave a film stuck in the viewers mind as a good one.

Jimmy: [They have discovered a barely alive Guy on the tracks] What you lookin at me for?
Kate: I don't know. Can we just get him off the rails?
Jimmy: He tried to rape you - let him rot!
Guy: Please - help!
Jimmy: FUCK off!