Creep

After leaving a party one night, Kate heads to a London subway. But being a bit drunk, she nods off and when she finally awakes, she realises she's alone and has been locked in. Now she's panicking, but a train pulls up and to her surprise no one else is on board. After a few seconds the train comes to sudden halt and Kate comes to the realisation that someone or something is lurking down there, which has some nasty surprises waiting for Kate.

When watching "Creep", what entered my mind was that I was seeing the backwoods horror slasher "Wrong Turn (2003)" basically set in a subway, but only more bloodier and incredibly cruel. I get the train to work and back, but I'm just glad that there are no subway systems on my journeys. But there's no doubting public transport can be the pits.

Christopher Smith the writer and director of this slick British Indie subterranean horror flick presents one very tight and atmospherically Gothic feature that benefits highly from its relentless surge of twisted and ragged jolts. It's gruesome, mean-spirited and unflinching terror is mostly delivered in a serious manner, despite the script being sprinkled with quick-witted remarks. The damp, isolated and claustrophobic setting of the poorly lit tunnels makes a huge imprint on the disorientating cloud the audience and main protagonist face. Smith integrates some flashy and rapid techniques. The versatile hand held photography adds a real moody and intimate vibe amongst the very effective sound effects and creaky understated music score. Hitting the mark was the graphic and always on the ball makeup effects. The appearance of the hideously unusual subway dweller just lingers in your mind and when it came to the kills it didn't disappoint.

However, there are things that really do bring the film down. By the third act it starts to wear a bit thin with predictable jumps and wearisome clichés. The story is terribly vague from the get-go. Illogical patterns and stupid circumstances unravel throughout the string-like plot. Originality comes in minor doses, but in all, there's a nice sense of realism and a speeding train-like pace created to keep you mostly involved. Franka Potente gives a strong, flexible and quite capable performance as Kate and the amusing Vas Blackwood gets caught up in the gruel too.

A very nasty and dour slasher that won't blow you away, but it provides the nightmarish thrills and intensity one would hope for.

This is good little shocker; not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but tight, competent and disturbing. An excellent example of a simple idea developed into a compelling 90 minute script.

The set up requires no bells and whistles, no lengthy exposition or wordy back story; Kate (Franka Pontente), a young German business woman living in London, drifts off whilst waiting for the last tube train. She awakens to find the place deserted, but quickly comes to realise that she is far from alone. Someone, or something, is down there with her and it's intentions are wholly malicious.

In fact she encounters several other characters in her quest to survive, including a lecherous work colleague, a homeless couple and a caged sewage worker, all of whom add pace and substance to the plot. There is a slightly awkward gear change somewhere in the middle of the film when tension thriller mutates into gore fest, but nothing so clumsy as to slow the hectic pace. For those of you with weak dispositions this is likely to be a harrowing ride; for those of you who relish a bit of well executed carnal mayhem this should press all the right buttons.

The climax of the film is perhaps less successful than the main body of the film, but it is punctuated with a nice moment of unexpected social commentary which provides a satisfying conclusion.

Some may find themselves feeling somewhat cheated of a clear explanation as to the exact nature and history of the threat encountered by Kate and her confederates, however, for me this was not the case. A horror film writer should not need feel compelled to dot every i and cross every t, in the same way a writer of political thrillers might be expected to. There are enough clues here to give you a very pretty clear idea of what brought this evil into existence, making a detailed and conclusive solution superfluous. The retention of a certain sense of mystery is to be welcomed and reminds us that in this film the ride was always going to be more important than the exact destination.

My understanding is that the budget for this film was, to say the least, minimal, in which case our applause for this British horror should be all the louder, for at no point does one have the impression of corners being cut or effects failing to deliver.

If this sounds like your kind of film then it probably is. Buy a ticket and climb aboard.

Brit horror successfully marries suspense and gore to create a more than decent movie.

Franka Potente is Kate, a socialite on her way to a party in London where George Clooney (Yes really) is believed to be hanging at and where she will attempt to seduce him (Yup, I'm not kidding).

However, she falls asleep at the subway station and misses the last train, leaving her trapped inside. Jeremy Sheffield's Guy is pursuing her though, and when a train finally arrives (Yes, the logic's already disintegrating), he appears out of nowhere and tries to rape her. Unfortunately for him, there is a real killer in the underground who drags him off her and wounds him fatally.

The rest of the movie is killer-pursues-Kate.

Quite frankly the logic in this one was never meant to be particularly strong. It's not even obvious that she fell asleep while waiting for the train, and instead it could have been mindgames. And indeed, mindgames seem to be the only explanation for some of the slightly ludicrous events which occur in the first half.

Nonetheless, this movie is about running away from the bad guy, whose appearance and identity imply he's 'not normal' (Are they ever), and to this end the film does a decent enough job. Once the bizarre first half hour of silliness is past, it is simple enough fare, with more than a hint of severe gore.

There's little more that can be said, such is the basic nature of this, but if you accept the intrinsic daftness of some of it, you'll get a reasonable kick out it if you like the genre.

Seen worse.

Creep doesn't do what its title suggests, it isn't exactly creepy, but it is pretty violent and gruesome. The story is fairly linear and has no plot holes that i noticed and the acting and script are OK.

The problem with Creep is that it doesn't really do anything to set it apart from the rest of the Horror crowd, but when compared to some its not to bad.

With floods of horror movies in recent years (Toolbox Murders, Grudge, White Noise, Descent, Boogeyman to name but a few) Creep is left languishing in mediorcratity.

For horror fanatics, its worth watching and it can hold its own in the genre. For movie lovers in general there is not enough here to warrant your time.

6/10

I want to like CREEP; it's my kind of film. A, well, 'creepy' horror film set on and around the London Underground, with a pared-down story, sinister villain and a resourceful heroine fighting against the odds. And yet, by the end, it's turned out to be a disappointing experience, and the reason for that is that it's oh so painfully predictable.

Christopher Smith is definitely a better director than he is writer; case in point, I can't fault his direction, which is adequate by genre standards, but what I can fault is his staid waiting. After a mildly atmospheric set up, this turns into the usual dull cat-and-mouse game between heroine and killer, with extraneous characters being messily murdered (and worse) and even a bit of torture porn thrown in to sicken viewers. It's all very familiar and, unfortunately, not at all frightening.

It doesn't help that the bad guy is a bit lame, despite the sterling efforts of the ever-menacing Sean Harris. He looks exactly like Smeagol at the opening of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING, part-way towards becoming Gollum when he was still played by Andy Serkis in extensive makeup. He's a bit of a weirdo, a tragic figure more than anything else. Franka Potente's tough heroine is better, but the supporting actors are wasted (particularly the excellent Ken Campbell, whose skills would have enlivened this greatly).

It's worth remembering that this was done before – and much better – in the superior 1970s Brit chiller DEATH LINE, starring Donald Pleasence. What an engaging, atmospheric and, yes, terrifying movie that was! Sadly, despite its interesting setting, Creep is lacklustre by comparison.