Movie Review: Creep

Released: 2004
Genre: Horror / Thriller
IMDB Rating: 5.6 / 10

One of the benefits of having a memory like a sieve is that you can completely forget about a movie that you thoroughly enjoyed back in the day, only remember about halfway through the more recent viewing that you enjoyed it, and then enjoy it all over again. Such is my experience with Creep, which was fantastic when I was a teenager and which does nothing to make me want to get on a train now.

Everyone has that one overly handsy friend.

The Plot

Kate’s just your average girl from London attending a party with a bunch of models and kids from the scene, smoking a little weed and doing a line or two off a mirror, who plans to end the evening off by stalking and screwing George Clooney. That is until the friend who was meant to go with her to screw George Clooney took off from the party to presumably beat Kate to the prize. Now Kate’s gonna have to take the train to fuck a celebrity like some filthy commoner.

All this talk of rocking George Clooney’s world has understandably made Kate a little thirsty; unfortunately for her, downing that bottle of vodka and passing out means that she’s all alone in the Underground. Her luck doesn’t improve much when a train finally does come and unexpectedly stops dead on the tracks and her co-worker, Guy, appears from nowhere and tries to rape her.

Someone or something pulls Guy off Kate, but it’s a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. The creature that lurks in the depths of the tunnels and train lines in the dead of night has far worse things that it would like to do to Kate. It’s also rather adept at killing off security guards, train drivers, and helpful homeless people, so Kate’s going to be in for one hell of a night running through all of London’s used and unused subways if she hopes to live to see the morning.

Your dying is really interfering with my sex plans!

The Visuals

Creep is actually a very simple movie that relies primarily on the strength of its lead actress (Franka Potente) and the atmosphere of either empty or abandoned train stations to get the audience in the mood. I’ve never been to London but I’m guessing that they filmed on location (with the exception of one or two rooms), which makes the whole scenario that much worse because it’s grounded in a realm of plausibility. In fact, how this sort of thing doesn’t happen in the Undergrounds of Europe more often I don’t know.

What also helps is that there aren’t really any special effects save for the creature, which was designed using simple but highly effective makeup. Thanks to this the movie has aged very well in the 12 years since it was released.

Trust me, I’m a doctor.

The Feelings

Entertained and mildly creeped (excuse the pun) out.

What I liked so much about Creep, both then and now, is that it takes a very simple and straightforward concept and runs with it. Millions of people rely on the Underground to get about, and most I imagine presume that it’s safe to use. But what if it weren’t? And what if, no matter how far you ran through the Underground, there was still no way to make it back to street level? That’s what Creep‘s playing with, and it does it very well.

Arguably the movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel and if you’re a fan of horror you’ll have seen most aspects of this movie in some shape or form in a dozen other places. It’s also not a movie that requires you to do any thinking or to try and figure out the great twist at the end because there won’t be one. This isn’t to detract from the movie because its story doesn’t call for trying to shoehorn in some deep and complicated twist, which the people who made it thankfully recognised. If you’re in the mood for a movie that’s easy to watch with some good atmosphere then I would definitely recommend that you give Creep a go.

Thank you 17-year-old me for finding this and then completely forgetting that you enjoyed it. Twat.

My Final Rating: 7 / 10
Buy Creep at Amazon.com

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