Creep

So I thought it was about time that I ventured over to Stafford’s local Choices, they've got a pretty good selection, great world cinema section, but I decided to go for a new British horror and a Japanese fairytale film which I may write about another time.

Title: Creep (2004)
Director: Christopher Smith
Starring: Franka Potente, Vas Blackwood


Premise:
Stuck in London and unable to find a taxi, Kate (Franka Potente) heads for the London underground to catch the last train home. Choosing to take an empty carriage, away from the noisy teens she falls asleep and wakes to find everyone gone.

Momentarily panicked until she sees another train arriving on the opposite platform, she boards unnerved that she's the only passenger. Halfway through the tunnel the train jumps to a violent halt as the lights shut down and the train is plunged into darkness.

With the train now static, Kate finds herself pursued by a mysterious, violent being while locked inside the depths of the London underground, Kate attempts to escape, falling into a game of a cat and mouse with her predator.



Review:
Generally these kinds of horror films don't appeal to me, they always seem to get sucked into the cliches, laid down by the late 70's early 80's horror films (Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th being the most obvious ones). However, I went to see, what has become known as Creeps sister film, The Descent and fell in love with the style of suspense, used by the director to invoke fear in his audience, so upon recommendation, I gave this film try.

With the central setting to this film being the London underground you wouldn't think that it would appear a particularly creepy place, that is, until you think about what it actually is: a labyrinth of long dark tunnels running adjacent to the sewers, add to the mix an attractive, feisty heroine and what better setting could you for a horror film!

The lead character, Kate doesn't scream appeal from the films start. Self-absorbed and arrogant the audience feel little to nothing for her. However when you see her confronted with her first threat, a work colleague with a crush, seeing his chance to take advantage, you see her true character come out from behind her quick mouth, portraying her from this sharp young lady to a scared little girl. From this point on the emotions that the character goes through become entwined with those that the director wants the audience to feel, using a lot of first person shots to his advantage.

The film does have one major let down, the creature was totally revealed within the first few minutes, then disguised again within the lighting and nifty camera angles until 45 minutes into the film. It's fair to put it down to inexperience of the director, as this was his first feature film, however it detracted a lot from the potential fear factor that the director tried so hard to create. The creatures design although simple was effective, the tinting of the camera aiding in not only the atmosphere but giving the creature a creepy edge (hence the films name).

The amount of gore in this film was relatively light and quick, until a certain scene in an operating room that was one of the most disturbing I'd seen and won't detail as it needs to be seen to be believed. However, for the budget the film makers must have been on, there were some fantastic atmospheric shots and great locations. Another positive for this film was that it didn't get boring or pretentiously try to dig into the characters past or explain how the monster came to be, everything was taken at face value putting you in the same situation as each of the characters there.

All I can say is if horror is your genre then watch this film and you won't be let down, although I wouldn't go and buy a take away to watch with this one, in fact don't eat for a good 2 days before watching this, unless you want it too come straight back up when the surgery scene arrives. If you've seen this one and are looking for others similar to it, give Mimic, Dog Soldiers or The Descent a try.

7.5/10

 

posted by Steve @ 11:37 PM |