Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
Members who trust:55
In the past few years the UK film council has put money into various British productions in the hope that they'll breath a little bit of fresh air in the UK film industry. Sadly the majority of films produced have been dire affairs that even on paper don't appear to be the kind of thing the public would pay money to see. Of course one genre that normally makes money is horror. You take a simple idea, throw in some gore and bring it in on a low budget.
Now on paper I've no doubt that Creep sounded like a decent idea that would get people into the cinema. But the final product is executed poorly and must go down as an opportunity missed.
Kate is a woman who leaves a party on a quest to meet George Clooney at a club in London. She makes her journey across the city by taking the London underground. Sadly the affects of alcohol send her to sleep on the platform. She awakes to find the place deserted, the escalators are shut, gates are locked and everywhere is closed down. She is shut in for the night
and all alone…. or at least she thinks so.
Someone else is down in the tunnels with her and it's someone with murderous tendencies. Bodies pile up and a night that started out with a little bit of hope descends into a nightmare.
The thing with Creep is that it's unbelievably stupid and at times amateurish. For a horror film it's pretty devoid of any real scares. Instead it relies on throwing in some nasty gore that just comes across as unpleasant and unnecessary. This is also a film doesn't offer anything new. The idea of being trapped in the underground with a crazed killer could have given some stellar moments of horror. But there is none of this, without credits this film runs for just over a hour and it's a hour without many highlights.
I'm at a loss as to why Franke Potente agreed to the lead role in this. There's not much to play with, everybody else in the cast is mere gore fodder. The 'Creep' in the film looks ok but all the while I couldn't get my head around the fact that it was a bloke with an ill-fitting body stocking.
At one moment in the film the lead character tries to get a ticket from the underground machine by feeding in a note. She is tapped on the shoulder by a snooty woman and informed that the machine doesn't give change. Yet anyone in the audience can see the large scrolling letters on the machine saying 'Change Available'. If you're spending money on a film but can't get the simplest things right then why ask an audience to buy into your nightmare?
Creep goes down as another waste of British film money, I really do wonder who actually reads the script and makes the decisions at times.
If you want to see a rocking brit horror flick then don't waste your money on this and go purchase Neil Marshall's The Descent.
-More Nastiness-
The DVD of Creep offers a solid audio/visual presentation. The grimy look of the film is well produced in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Audio wise both the Dolby 5.1 and DTS soundtracks offer a lot of atmosphere and nice punches throughout. But all of this can't really save the turkey that is on screen.
-Going Underground-
God forbid you actually liked this film but if you did then the DVD offers some extra treats for your consumption.
The audio commentary with writer/director Christopher Smith isn't worth much. There's not a great deal of insight into the making of the film. At one point he compares some of it to the work of far superior directors and that's clearly a joke that Smith is not in on.
'The Making of Creep' is a pretty standard affair. There are a lot of interviews about the idea and the characters. A few behind the scenes shots but the credit cuts began to annoy me, as they seemed to prolong what was already a bog standard affair.
A couple of featurettes look at the make-up and production design. These are decent little numbers which probably offer more interest in twenty minutes than the entire cut of Creep.
A festival Q&A session follows which annoyingly throws questions up in text screen that hang around on screen for ages. The questions are pretty inane as well. I switched it off, as it got quite boring pretty quickly.
Rounding out things are alternate openings and endings. Both were not shot so instead we get the director explaining them over footage of storyboards. The opening would probably have been beneficial to the film as we never get a real idea of 'Creep's' origins as a result. The ending is your usual train, heroine, bad guy encounter; you can guess how it all turned out. There's also a look at some alternate titles that are about as interesting as finding fluff in between your toes.
Finally there are the usual trailers.
-Finally-
Creep is crap - that is all.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
HA! I didn't have the patience to sit through this one and yes, I too am baffled as to why Franke Potente agreed to appear in this dirge.
Belle 22.01.2006 17:28
Urgh, why can't people make a film that doesn't rely on gore, and instead has the genuine ability to make you jump?! That is the kind of film that genuinly freaks me out, and I can only think of a couple like it! K xxx
Magdalena 03.01.2006 15:27
Agreed entirely. I thought this film was dire. Great review.
Ever missed the last train?London, midnight, on a cold evening. Unable to find a taxi, ... more
Kate (Franka Potente 'The Bourne Identity/Supremacy') heads for the Underground. She takes a seat away from the crowd of late-night revellers and waits for the last ...
Your journey terminates here. London midnight on a cold evening. Unable to find a taxi ... more
Kate (Franka Potente) heads for the Underground. She takes a seat away from the crowd of late-night revelers and waits for the last train. Before long she drifts...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Cushing and Lee at the height of their horrific powers. Splendid story. Excellent direction. Disadvantages: The creature when fully revealed, but isn't on screen that long anyway.
paramanjara 24.07.2007 (24.07.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Creeping Flesh (DVD)
![Creep [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78882709.jpg "Creep [DVD] [2004]")
Jan 2nd, 2006
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
