CREEP (2004)

As a movie fan, and particularly a horror fan, I am being sick and tired of remakes, and homages, and films that don’t take their subject matter seriously. If you follow me on Instagram you will see story after story of me banging on about the lack of creativity in the Hollywood machine.

A lot of fans call for a throwback style to the movies of the seventies and eighties, the Texas Chainsaws, The Last Houses, the original Friday the 13ths and their ilk, and except for some of the PG13 rated stuff, we certainly do seem to be seeing more of that stuff.

The movies that a lot of us grew up loving and that had enough notoriety so that when younger fans of the genre got introduced to horror, they too went back and enjoyed these glorious, gory-ous tales of terror. Every time a new director comes onto the scene we all hope that he is the next big thing who will put the horror back into horror, but a lot of the time we end up disappointed.

First time writer/director Christopher Smith’s feature Creep was an excellent film that throws back to those days of gore, carnage, but most importantly…solid storytelling. This is a solid British horror film, which is enjoyable from start to finish. I feel that when this came out it was at the beginning of films of this types being produced, and less of thee teeny 90s rubbish we’d tolerated until the birth of j-horror.

Hard nosed career girl, Kate (Franka Potente from Anatomie)) is a young up coming type, who after a work party, misses her lift to another party, where she hopes to hook up with George Clooney and decides instead to take a tube train. While sitting waiting for the train, she dozes off, only to wake and find herself alone, and locked in the Underground station. Trapped in the subway, she encounters something that lives within the tunnels a creature named ‘Craig’ (Sean Harris from Prometheus)… something with her death in mind…

It is from such simple plot ideas that a weak horror movie could emerge, but in the hands Smith in this, his first big release, it comes across as a great pseudo-slasher that really shines.

The script really works as Smith has chosen to ignore the standard Hollywood horror teen stereotypes and has gone with realistic people, who speak and act in a realistic manner, with a special mention going to Sean Harris (24 Hour Party People), with his portrayal of Craig. The locations within the London Underground and the sets are spectacular and incredibly creepy. Along with all this comes some excellent lighting that really defines the difference between the worlds of ours above the ground, and what dwells beneath. The soundtrack by The Insects is another great aspect of this film that gives it such an effective atmosphere.

If I have one criticism of this film, and it is the absolute minor of criticisms is Potente’s costume. I totally understand the concept of making sure your heroine stands out, and even that sometimes costume can be used to make the character more difficult to hide from the bad guy, or even the colour choice, in this case yellow, can represent decay, anxiety or even be a warning sign, but the style of it sticks out for all the wrong reasons. It doesn’t suit the professionalism of the character, or the design of the whole film. It’s almost childish and is a distraction. Upon reflection, maybe it was made to reflect Craig’s environment, but for what reason I don’t understand.

Ok, let’s say it’s actually two criticisms: the make up on Harris makes for a scary creature, but it doesn’t ring true. It does look like a make up, but thankfully Harris’s disturbing performance sells it really well.

A great original horror film that at no time makes light of its subject. This film has great acting, a good solid script with realistic dialogue, decent gore and best of all, no teeny bopper Tiktok types. A real treat, although there a few scenes that may make any horror fans with a vagina cringe.

Extras: There is a great amount of extras on this new Bluray edition of the film, but first I would like to just say that even though this new packaging looks great, it is not. The outer sleeve is very tight on the plastic case and I’ve almost wrecked it getting it open. I thought it may have been a one off but my copy of Severance is the same. They look good though.

Audio Commentary with Director Christopher Smith which is amazing. Obviously a fan of film and a fan of the craft of filmmaking, Smith’s commentary is thorough entertaining.

2024 Interviews with Director Christopher Smith and a seperate 2024 Interview with Producer Julie Barnes sees them both fondly reflect upon the making of the film.

Mind The Gap – A History of British Locomotive Horror by Jarret Gahan is a fun look at how UK filmmakers introduced the train as a horror movie device.n

Creep 3D – The Last Tube Game Walk Through is a look at a promotional game that was developed to promote the film. It was thought lost but footage has been rediscovered and you can see it here. If you are a gamer it’s a pretty cool thing.

Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew is the interviews for the film from when the first DVd was released. Potante, Vas Blackwood, Jeremy Sheffield, Smith and the producers are all interviewed.

The Making of Creep… lets just say if you have already watched the interviews, don’t watch this as it’s basically the same footage from the Archival Interviews cut into a featurette.

Production design: The Look of Creep and Make Up: The Making of Creep take a deep dive (well, as deep as ten minutes each would take you) into the look of the sets and the creature make up of the film/ if you like this type of stuff it’s fascinating.

Frightfest 2004: Press Conference Q and A is, as one can imagine, is fairly poorly filmed (it’s on video at a convention so I will cut it my slack), but it has a weird thing to it insomuch that Smith has repeatedly said he hadn’t seen Deathline, an English film which has some similarities, until 2007, and yet here he says it has influences from that film, and American Werewolf in London. It’s not a problem just something different to what had previously been claimed. I actually wish it was uncut because the whole thing looks like it may have been heaps of fun.

Operation Deleted Scene is nice and gruesome and I admit to being disappointed it’s not in the film, depending on when it would have been. It feels like a pre prologue which may have given away some secrets for the film far too early.

Storyboards: Alternate Titles, Alternate Beginning, Alternate Ending. It shows a few alternative titles, none of which were great and actually doesn’t have the original title Smith wanted for it ‘Runt’ which I think is a far better title. The alternative beginning would have been far too revealing for the surprises of the film, and the alternate ending which Smith felt too obvious. The nice thing about these storyboards is that Smith hosts them and explains what was happening.

There is also a Trailer.

Film: 8/10

Extras: 9/10

Rewatchability: 8/10

This Bluray was purchased from JB Hifi