Creep 2 (2017)
Directed by Patrick Brice
Viewed on Netflix
A few weeks ago I wrote about a little found footage movie that captured my heart, Creep. Creep immediately sucked me in with its devotion to the exact kind of horror that I love in found footage, and that is horror that is focused on things that aren’t quite right. Now that is pretty vague but what I mean by that is it achieved an atmosphere where I was presented with characters/events that were just a little off, not unrealistically off, just weird enough that they put you slightly on edge without knowing why. To know all my feelings about it you should just go back and read that review, but you don’t have to have seen the first movie to understand the second. But it helps. Because there are a TON of spoilers here if you haven’t seen the first film, so be warned all ye who read past here.
What immediately strikes me about Creep 2 is just how different it is from the first one in tone and story line, which is something that I really like. Too often sequels like this would just present the same scenario two times in a row (or more) and just expect lightning to strike twice. And that is where this movie really works because unlike the first film that focused on Aaron and the bizarre things that happened to him, this one focuses much more on the character of Josef (who in this movie goes by the name Aaron) and how he is getting stuck in a rut with his murder career. At the same time a hopeful and down on her luck creator of a web series about weird people who post to online meetup boards is also experiencing some career fatigue. Her series is not taking off like she hoped it would and she is considering just scrapping the entire thing before she sees an ad similar to the one referenced in Creep about a guy needing a videographer for a day. She suspects that this is a weird guy who may have an interesting story so she goes to meet Aaron.
Sara and Aaron meet, and Aaron confides in her that he is a serial killer who has lost his edge and he is hoping that by making a documentary about himself of his fortieth murder he will get his mojo back. Sara is a bit put off by Aaron but she doesn’t believe he is actually a serial killer, just a lonely guy who wants to appear weirder and more interesting than he actually is. Hoping she will get more interesting material than she previously had, Sara agrees to help Aaron and the two begin filming Aaron’s murder documentary. The documentary starts out normal for a weirdo’s manifesto, but gets stranger and stranger as Aaron begins to see Sara as a kindred spirit.
One of the best things about this movie is the dueling plots that Aaron and Sara have, Sara’s desires to get the footage she wants plays perfectly into Aaron’s bizarre and sadistic plans, even as Sara believes that she is the one who has the upper hand. Sara is so used to dealing with odd people who are mostly harmlessly weird that she dismisses or doesn’t notice all the red flags that Aaron is putting out there. It is an understandable position though, Sara clearly wants to believe the best of people, especially if they are odd or lonesome and she sees Aaron as that and as a way for her to get some excellent material for her web series. And her desires in that regard may be clouding her judgement about whether or not Aaron is dangerous, further complicating things. I really like their character dynamic and it ratchets up the tension brilliantly when we have these scenes where Sara isn’t taking something that Aaron is saying seriously when we as the audience know that she should be a lot more apprehensive than she is being.
While I’m on the subject I need to give a bit more attention to Aaron and how much I am just in love with this character. He is the perfect consummate liar where everything he says is just this crafted series of lies meant to manipulate the listener and even though everything about him seems a bit off he doesn’t usually do anything overtly threatening to tip people off too early. Also he knows, through research or intuition, way more than he should know about what makes people tick, giving him a huge edge in all his dealings. It’s his bizarre charisma though that really drives home what really resonates about the character, you start to believe the things he is saying because he seems to believe them as well, even though that is definitely not true. A lot of this is due to the electrifying performance given by Mark Duplass who was just born to play this role. I’ve seen him in a few other movies, the most recent being Tully, and he was good but he really excels when he’s given a role that he can just sink his teeth into and that is exactly what he does as Aaron/Josef.
Being a found footage film, and being a short one at that barely breaking 80 minutes, this movie is a lot more character driven than many other films, but Creep 2 manages to make its quick run time and dialogue heavy aspects strengths and not weaknesses. Though there are a few scenes at the beginning of the film where Sara directly addresses the camera and explains things which I thought should have been cut or at least shown to us in a different way, but hey, very few movies are perfect. Otherwise everything comes together well and although Creep 2 isn’t quite as strong as its predecessor it is definitely still worth seeing!
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