Creep, directed by Patrick Brice (who also plays the role of Aaron, the videographer), is about a man who responds to a craigslist add for a one-day filming job. The movie starts out with a jump scare, as Josef, the man from the craigslist ad brings Aaron into his home. He explains to Aaron that he has a terminal brain tumor and wants to make a video for his unborn son. The beginning starts out relatively normal, Aaron is just filming Josef who behaves very peculiarly. As the movie progresses, it is revealed that Aaron does not have a pregnant wife or terminal brain cancer and Josef's filming job turns into an escape mission from the eerie house in the woods. The entire movie is shown through the video taken by Aaron, giving it an eye-level shot angle. This intensifies the eeriness of it all by making the viewer see everything from Aaron's perspective. During the height of the film, low-key lighting is used to create many shadows. This makes the depth of field shallow and the color-value very dark with black being the dominant color. This creates suspense because it hides Josef from view. The movie quickly turns into Aaron being stalked by Josef. Aaron films himself talking to the camera in a tight frame, showing only his face, describing what Josef has been doing and sending to him. He even films himself while sleeping which again has a tight frame of just his face and darkness. This creates a frightening mood as things happen around him and the camera begins to move. Overall the movie was successful at creating suspense, and creating an unsettling mood.
I did not enjoy the movie because It made me feel extremely uncomfortable and somewhat violated (if that's even possible for a movie to do). Certain parts of the movie I felt were unnecessary for the plot and were only there to really leave me unsettled. For example, when Josef reveals that his "wife" is into bestiality and so he wears the peachfuzz mask and rapes her. This seemed unnecessary to me and just left me with an image I really didn't need. Also we find out his wife doesn't even exist which left me wondering did he make that whole story up or did he do this to someone who wasn't his wife? Another reason I didn't love the movie is because the actor who plays Josef also plays Pete from The League, a raunchy series about a group of friends and their fantasy football league. After knowing Mark Duplass from this show, it was hard for me to view him as a creepy serial killer when I'm used to his funny and sarcastic comments in The League. The movie itself succeeded, if leaving the audience uncomfortable and unsettled was the goal. I wouldn't watch it again.
Excellent example of a Be Reel blog!
ReplyDeleteNatural transition from your first paragraph (objectively evaluating the film) to your second (subjectively reacting to those choices from the object). Objective details are really focused on craft, which shows sophistication and builds your credibility by the time we get into the subjective analysis. Love the way you bring in The League as a show that impacts your expectations for Mark Duplass, and how that subjectivity has a sincere impact on your ability to enjoy the film. The ONLY thing that this post needs (other than, perhaps, a snappy title) is a link to some scene or image of the film. Especially because you give us such great descriptions of these scenes, it might be nice to actually watch them in conjunction with your analysis.