The modern found footage genre owes its existence to the 2007 movie Paranormal Activity and ever since, the movie industry has made several attempts to reinvent it. The last decade has had its fair share of popular found footage films, but none compare to Creep. The movie came out 10 years ago and starred Patrick Brice as a videographer named Aaron, who films a dying man inoperable brain tumor. Aaron meets Josef who has deep delusions, which surely was played with until Aaron ends up dead.
The sequel to the movie is quite reminiscent of the first one; Aaron, who is the killer now, is tired of his life, and that brings a twist to the tale. Fans of the movie were left surprised with the announcement of Creep becoming a TV series. The original movies promised a lot of innovation but felt very repetitive by the mid-2010s. Rather than attempting to evolve the series or the genre itself, the filmmakers decided to stick to their comfort zone and remained very safe during the six-episode series.
The opening scene of the series titled; ‘Mark’ closely resembles both of the movies. For starters, the man approaches a poorly signposted cabin with a camera in his hand that looks similar to a torch, and once he reaches the door, there is a sign stuck to it that reads: ‘I am just double checking that you are already rolling, mat you for further instructions that await you inside’ The sign is just the sort of duality the man would expect to find inside the firthing lighting of the cabin. He then enters the room which is filled with dim light only to be greeted with explosions of Duplass’s name-changing character, who seems quite dressed as a vampire. From what transpires next, he comes outside into the cold, and an intense game of hide and seek begins. Ultimately he ends up getting chased around in the snow. Over and above all this, the only sounds that can be heard are the cameraman’s gasps and Duplass’ cheers, until he ultimately decapitates his opponent with an axe.
This can almost be construed to be a rehash of the two previous films. While yes, it is entertaining to watch, the beginning of season 2 tells the audience that the pattern won’t be changing anytime soon. Clearly ‘Creep’ does not possess the qualities that allow it to call for a prequel that analyzes the origin of the villain. Yet, recycling content and referring to it as the ‘greatest hits’ for the fans is something that any audience would find disappointing.
Although there are episodes that truly unite together as one and bring forth brand new offerings in the found footage genre, the bulk seems to fall in line with the usual V/H/S characteristics. If anything, this invokes the confounding thought of how V/H/S fails as a series due to its general shortcomings.
Nonetheless, whether it is actually bad or good comedy, This series has real highlights since every episode has a unique theme. While Duplass’s strange and upbeat behavior becomes more annoying as one goes through each chapter, the inept action or scene throughout will always keep you tense. As the first episode gets too over-familiar with to the films, the promising second one shows that even if the villain is brutal in a cabin or house, he is more insane somewhere other than that. But then, while still keeping their own stories there, once again, we have to see how these methods work but in the new episode in the same way as before. The length of each episode is around half an hour so there isn’t any possible reason why The Creep Tapes should be slow, however, there’s a certain realistic point in the episode where it starts feeling like a Groundhog Movie Day.
It’s unfortunate that the black humor is there, and so is the found footage that made the original films feel so cutting edge. After a seven-year wait, some fans may be happy to see Duplass hamming it up on screen again, but unfortunately, that’s the only thing this new series has to offer. It’s been seven years since the third movie and there are only two new episodes to this series. These types of jokes, as comical as they may be, wore off a long time ago because the scares become redundant after the second episode until you feel this might have just been made into another film.
There is no bearing on what W directors have managed to create with “The Creep Tapes” in which the mic goes mute and other terrors are shelved as teaser material. There is no demystifying in new chapters and the levity that came with “Creep”. The sheer boredom and lack of depth and fidelity caused by watching a cat-and-mouse game play out in six episodes is not expected. The Cat And Mouse undertones of this series were such a drag that by the end of watching all the episodes, I thought to myself and it is quite unfortunate to speak this, The Creep Tapes is exactly the reason i felt the need for movies that were spinoffs of my favorites didn’t exist.
The premiere date for “The Creep Tapes” is November – 15 on AMC + Shutter and i would definitely recommend watching them. Every episode was available for review.
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