The Horror Show
Creep 2
by Patrick Brice
In 2014, Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice brought us a quirky “Found Footage” movie called Creep. It was a sleeper hit that had everyone raving with a simple premise about a man dying of cancer that hires a videographer to record his dying words to his unborn child. Mark Duplass was brilliant as the charming sociopath, Josef, and Patrick Brice was engaging as Aaron, the trusting videographer. It was an amazing movie done with so little. Could they do it again with Creep 2?
If you haven't seen Creep I warn you, there will be spoilers ahead, so go watch it!
We open with one of Josef's new friends getting a package in the mail. Apparently, he's been getting a lot of strange things as of late. In the package is a wolf plush and a video. Then we see our charismatic killer, Josef, who is now going by the name Aaron. He tells his new friend that he's the one that's been sending him things and that he was hoping they would be BFFs, but it wasn't working out, so he slashed his ex-friend's throat. Aaron/Josef isn't feeling too happy with his kill. He feels hollow. He has lost his mojo.
We then meet our protagonist, Sara, played by Desiree Akhavan. She is the host of “Encounters”, a web series devoted to discovering the humans behind online personal ads. She is very frustrated at the lack of response to her series so she is looking for something good for her tenth episode; something to put the passion back in her film making. She answers an ad looking for someone who doesn't scare easily and is into “Interview with the Vampire.” Sara answers the ad and begins her long drive through the woods to meet Aaron/Josef.
As in the first movie, we are introduced to Aaron/Josef, but he doesn't have a bullshit story about a family and cancer this time. He comes right out with the fact that he is a serial killer and wants to make a documentary to help him find his joy of killing. If she agrees, she will film for 24 hours and he won't kill her. If she doesn't, she can take her money and leave. Sara decides to stay against every fiber of her being.
As soon as she agrees, Aaron/Josef starts in with the insanity. He gets completely naked, so does Sara. He tries to scare her constantly, but it doesn't phase Sara one bit; she keeps up with him, toe to creepy toe. She even calls the Peachfuzz wolf mask cute, to Aaron/Josef's surprise!
I enjoyed this dynamic between Aaron/Josef and Sara. Their dialogue is not as ad-libbed like in the first one, but it still feels believable. Aaron/Josef is still very disturbing but in a much different way than in Creep. In Creep, he feels unhinged but you can't be too sure if it's an act or if this person is really this bizarre. In Creep 2, the audience knows he's unhinged but we're still falling for his charms. We saw him kill someone in the opening scene and we still kind of want to give him a hug.
In the end I really enjoyed Creep 2. It was filled with cool shots and great dialogue. Mark Duplass is always so much fun to watch. He really does make you love this sociopath with a wolf fetish. I really hope that Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass finish out this supposed trilogy with something great. I'm sure it will be a howling good time.
Robin Thompson, HMS
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