Thirteenth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #1 Creep

 Welcome back, ghouls and goblins, to the THIRTEENTH annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series! I can't believe it's October already - it seems like we haven't done so much this year and yet, still, the year has just flown by - but let's get into it.  I asked on social media for scary movie recommendations because after over a decade of doing this, and over 187 horror (or horror-adjacent) movies watched (see the Movie Review A-Z link over there, will it do ya?), I'm needing some help finding good ones.  There's plenty on the streamers but so many of them seem to be Netflix-originals (or whomever) and that stuff is just jump scares and weak sauce.  If you've got any suggestions, please leave them in the comments!  I'm especially partial to monster movies (werewolves, aliens, creepy-crawlies, giant alligators, slugs, and I'll include vampires and zombies too) and big bonus points for practical effects.  Some of my all-time favorites are The Thing (I may need to rewatch that this year ...), American Werewolf in London, Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers and Dead Alive.  

But I digress.  This first one was recommended to me by a grade school (!!) friend.  He watches quite a lot of horror movies - I think he's got a higher tolerance for jump scares than I do - so I tend to listen to what he says. And he said: Creep, the 2014 found-footage film starring Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice.

Aaron, a videographer (Patrick Brice) answers an ad for a one-day gig, up in the mountains of California, filming a day-in-the-life of a dying man, Joseph (Mark Duplass), as a video diary for Joseph's unborn baby.  Easy enough gig, just have to put up with this slightly off-kilter dude for eight hours.  And to be sure, Joseph is off-kilter: invading personal space, naked in the bathtub within fifteen minutes of meeting Aaron, jumping out and scaring Aaron multiple times.  But Aaron is conflicted, because although this guy is weird, he's not too weird, maybe just lacking in social graces and off-putting in the face of his imminent demise.  So Aaron puts up with it, with the wolf mask and the fast-paced hike into the wilderness (lol I know it was in service of the plot, but I do a lot of hiking and there's no way anyone could have gotten lost on that well-travelled a trail, despite Aaron's city-slicker misgivings), strange confessions, etc.  

Aaron finishes the gig but picks up a disturbing phone call on Joseph's phone after the other guy passes out from too much whiskey.  In the morning (too drunk to drive, plus keys mysteriously missing), Aaron gets the hell out of there when Joseph seems threatening.  It doesn't end there, however, and Aaron realizes that taking this job was a big mistake.  I'm not going to spoil it further: at under an hour and a half, you'll get where this movie is going fast enough.

Is Creep a ground-breaking little indie, a la The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity?  No, not at all.  Is it uncomfortable and creepy, edging into unsettling for moments?  Yes, absolutely.  Mark Duplass is quite good at going against his mumblecore type.   There's a number of jump scares too (gawd I hate jump scares such a chicken) and to sum up, this is an uncomfortable without being scary, solid little non-gory creeper.