Parents' Guide to

Creep

By Jeffrey M. Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Shocking violence in creepy found footage/stalker movie.

Movie R 2015 77 minutes
Creep Movie Poster: A sinister figure stands silhouetted at the top of a staircase, the title scrawled in jagged letters

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • Creep Movie: Josef (Mark Duplass) leans into the camera, a creepy smile on his face
  • Creep Movie: Videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice) films himself talking from the driver's seat of his car
  • Creep Movie: Aaron and Josef hug while standing in a shallow creek near a craggy rock face

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What's the Story?

In CREEP, struggling videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice) accepts a job filming a kind of video diary for Josef (Mark Duplass). Josef has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and wants to leave behind a record for his unborn son. Aaron travels to a remote cabin in the woods to meet his jovial host. Over the course of the day, Josef's behavior makes Aaron feel more and more unsettled. And when it's time for him to leave, his car keys have mysteriously disappeared. The final straw comes when Aaron intercepts a phone call from Angela (Katie Aselton), whom Josef claimed was his pregnant wife but is really his sister. She urges Aaron to escape. But the story is only beginning.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

It was obviously inspired by other two-hander horror thrillers, but this micro-budget, no-frills wonder gets the job done spectacularly, generating suspense through human behavior and threat. Written by the two stars and shot and directed by Brice, Creep cost, by some accounts, less than $500. (Duplass has said in interviews that it cost literally "nothing.") Brice and Duplass are the only two people who appear on camera (Duplass's wife, Aselton, lends her voice for the phone call). But the pair concentrate on emotions and interactions that make the movie constantly gripping. (It helps that it's a tight 77 minutes long.)

Duplass is a skilled performer with an "ordinary guy" quality that can easily be molded to just about anything else, from comic to romantic to sinister. And he understands how to make scary stuff unfold organically, never overplaying his hand or going over the top. Brice matches him, making the most of the innate human fight-or-flight response to conflict. Aaron's eventual decision to try to make things right is also believable. Moreover, the filmmakers manage to make their movie work on a visual level, with creative compositions and use of the large cabin and surrounding woods; even the jump scares are well thought out. Creep may be a small movie based on a familiar concept, but it's proof that, with creativity and smart storytelling, anything can be made big.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Creep's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes enjoy being scared?

  • What is a "two-hander"? What are the advantages and disadvantages of telling a story with only two characters?

  • What's the appeal of "stalker" stories? Are stalkers wholly evil characters, or are they simply humans who could be anyone?

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