Today, January 28th, marks the lucky 13th birthday of the release of Creep. No, not that Creep, with Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice.
Creep (2005) is an earlier horror film directed by Christopher Smith (Detour, Black Death) and starring Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, The Conjuring 2) and Sean Harris (Prometheus, Deliver Us From Evil). It premiered at the Frankfurt Fantasy Filmfest in Germany on August 10th, 2004. and was later released, widely, on January 28th, 2005.
Creep centers around Kate, who “wakes up in a London tube station to find the place locked up and deserted. With no choice but to stay there until morning, Kate soon finds that some things are much more frightening than being alone, as she heads into the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city, pursued by an unknown attacker.”
I truly would not blame you to disregard this article after Googling Creep 2005 (make sure you include that 2005) and seeing the cheesy images come up in your search. However, giving this film a look back, a second viewing so to speak, can be justified pretty easily.
Being a horror fan in this decade is a little bit of a blessing. We have all of the greatness of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s horror as well as the leaps and bounds the genre has made just even within the last ten years. Creep is not one of those ‘greats’, but it’s just a simple filler film given every few months to keep the horror hounds at bay before the next big, new thing is released. If anything, Creep is a prime example of just how far modern horror has come and how those filler films somehow hold up over time.
A few points I’d like to make to entice you to stream Creep for the first time or revisit it with trepidation:
(There are SPOILERS below – the movie is 13-years old, after all.)
1. The Setting is Alternatively Fresh!
Set in London’s Underground, Creep’s theme runs parallel (ha!) with that of Death Line and Midnight Meat Train. With so many horror films restricted to a house of some sort or part of a house, the sketchy and undesirable puzzle that is the London Underground tube station is perfectly atmospheric. The subterranean setting is different, isolating, and just plain scary.
2. The Final Girl is Pretty Real!
Before I have to brave the forecast of readers that will come for me using that term to describe Franka Potente’s Kate, keep in mind that she is, indeed, the final girl of this movie. She’s the sole female survivor while all characters around her are brutally murdered, so, yes, she is a final girl. Amy is a vapid twenty-something year old party-loving, self-centered, careless kind of girl. There is something about Kate’s solid realness that is likable and unlikable at the same time. We all know someone just like her and hope they are gruesomely attacked alone in the underground too, however, we sympathize with her in the gruesome situation she finds herself in all the same. I mean, I’d cross the London underground and battle a gritty psychopath to meet George Clooney in a bar too.
What I really like about her is that I don’t like her at all. Who said all final girls have to be nice? Do I have to feel invested in all of the characters of the movies I watch? Exactly. She ultimately learns a lesson or two and, through it all, Kate surprisingly offers up a good few laughs despite nearly becoming a cannibal’s happy meal.
3. The Visual Effects are Gnarly!
If you’re into strong, bloody violence then I suggest you give Creep a chance! It’s got that good old 2000’s look: the more fake blood, the better. Our titular creep is insanely brutal offering up some graphic scenes and disturbing kills. His full-body makeup is also pretty well done, never really shying away into the shadows. Creep let’s you see everything, that’s what make sit fun. It’s your typical stalk-and-kill story, so there’s not much thought involved, but there’s plenty of gore and guts!
4. It Has A 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, But An 82% Google User rating!
Those aren’t horrible numbers, even though I never particularly trust them myself, but for a UK horror film known for “trashy shocks, old-school nastiness and a fistful of genre clichés” it’s worth another look. Creep’s murderer is just that, a creep. He’s not super complex and offers no reason for understanding. Kate is not truly a character you can identify with on much and she is as shallow as they come.
The best part about this? That’s how it’s supposed to be. Creep is one of those movie that is exactly what it is: a forgettable, B-rated film you could find in a random Redbox or on the shelves of a consignment shop. Isn’t that something all of us horror lovers crave once in a while? A movie that is just a movie without an earth shattering plot or Oscar worthy performance. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from all of the thought-provoking, question-raising, emotionally intriguing and sophisticated films that are pumped out month after month, and just watch something that is simple and fun. The scares are cheap, violent, and, well, trashy!
5. The Pushy, Sexual Predator Bites It!
Whether you are a man or a woman, everyone loves a little dose of justice. Even though it’s just a quick scene to set up the plot, one of Kate’s drunk, overtly friendly, forward coworkers follows her to the train. He, of course, “cannot help himself” and begins to take advantage of Kate. Luckily, cannibals don’t like rapists much either. Our aforementioned creep takes out the coworker brutally,but in the best way possible.
Celebrate Creep’s 13th birthday and check it out if you can keep an open mind while enjoying something mindless.
They just don’t make them like they used to. For the better, or for worse.
