One of those teeny tiny films in which the director, the screen writers and the actors are all the same two guys.
It’s a “horror” movie. But the best kind: psychological down to the bone.
In other words, nothing really “supernatural”. Instead the “terror” revolves around this: the realization that it is not altogether out of the realm of possibility that you might bump into someone like this yourself.
And we all know there are any number of truly bizarre ways in which we can terrorize each other without being ghosts or gobblins. Or vampires or zombies.
Here of course there are generally two kinds of “monsters”: The sociopath and the psychopath. One is just basically intent on inflicting pain [and fear] on you, while the other is acting out of a mental affliction that may not ever actually be understood. It’s hard to say which experience is the more horrific. Why? Because with neither is there any real hope of “reasoning” him out of doing whatever terrible things he has planned.
And here, even though it all unfolds up on a mountain, it’s not in some remote cabin out in the woods somewhere — a million miles from another living soul. So it makes the context [and the horror] all the more plausible. At least it did for me. Also, you really can imagine someone wanting to do what Josef is doing “for his unborn son”. In other words, you can imagine yourself falling for it.
The bottom line is that Josef really, really, really comes to embody creepiness. On one level you can go along with what he is saying. But increasingly you begin to suspect that something is really “off” with him. Then it’s only a matter of finding out just how “off” he is. That and wondering whether or not Aaron will get out of it alive.
This is [supposedly] the first film of a Creep trilogy.
IMDb
[b]Since the movie was based on a series of conversations between Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass, most of it was improvised. This led to a lot of scenes being shot and result and screened in front of their peers which is what pushed this psychological black comedy into a psychological horror after the advice of their friends and has at least three other alternate endings.
When Josef points out the “heart-shaped” pool of water, the overall rock formation closely resembles a skull, with an eye socket to the upper left and the rounded edges proportionate to what a skull would look like if the heart shape were the nasal cavity. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creep_(2014_film
trailer: youtu.be/hYx5R6kbJTQ
CREEP [2014]
Written and directed by Patrick Brice
[b]Aaron [voiceover while driving a car]: Alright, we are now leaving the flatlands and we are heading towards the mountaintop. Not sure who I’m meeting. The ad said, “$1,000 for the day, filming services. Discretion is appreciated.” Whatever that means.
…
Aaron [vocieover]: So here’s a thought. What if this is just some 40-something who is sitting alone in her apartment waiting for some young, handsome boy to come up the hill and give her rubdowns…and whisper sweet nothings?[/b]
We suspect that’s not it.
[b]Josef [meeting Aaron]: Oh my God. Oh my God. This is going to be a good day. You have a really nice, kind face…Trust me, this is not going to be anything weird at all.
…
Josef: I am a cancer survivor. I had cancer of the liver, spread to the lungs. It looked pretty bad. They gave me the chemo. I knocked it out. It immediately went into remission. It was pretty incredible. Unfortunately, two months ago, I started getting dizzy spells…and these sort of weird cognitive backfirings. Went back to see the doctor. Brain tumor the size of a baseball here.
Aaron: Oh no…
Josef: That’s inoperable. So they gave me about two to three months to live. I’m hoping I beat it, you know? And the power of positive thinking…maybe, who knows? But in case I don’t, I’m married. My beautiful wife Angela is pregnant with our first child. Have you ever seen the film My Life?
Aaron: No.
Josef: It’s a beuatiful film. Michael Keaton has cancer in the film and he make a video diary of himself for his unborn son…I just want you to walk with me. I don’t know exactly what I am going to do. I want you to document me how I am.
…
Josef: You ready for this.
Aaron: Okay, let’s do it.
Josef: All right. I’m going to get into the tub.
Aaron [after a long pause]: In the tub?
…
Josef [in the tub]: I just can’t help thinking: “Why wait?” You know? Because…I could just end it right now. I could, you know.
[he sinks down under the water]
Aaron [worried]: Josef? Hey. Josef. Josef!..[/b]
Josef bursts up out of the water. A joke he explains. To lighten the mood. Next up: Peachfuzz.
[b]Josef: What’s really amazing is that there was about two seconds there after you were done being scared where it looked like you wanted to kill me.
Aaron: No, I was just…it was…
Josef: I don’t take it personally. I think it was a visceral reaction, you know? A defense thing. But…but there is an animal in you.
…
Josef: I have an ax back at the house.
Aaron: Yeah. I saw it.
Josef: Can I ask you a question? Answer me honestly?
Aaron: Okay.
Josef: When you saw that ax out in front of the house was there a small part of you that thought I might kill you with it?
…
Aaron [starting to grasp that all is not as it seems]: Josef, do you remember how to get back?
Josef: No. I don’t.
Aaron: It’s just we’ve taken a lot of forks in the road and switchbacks that…I haven’t been keeping track, so…
Josef: I haven’t either. But that’s…I mean…that’s back there, man. We gotta go forward.
Aaron: Okay…
Josef: We can’t find the miracle if, you know, we gotta rope attached to us.
…
Josef [after Aaron wants to leave]: One drink, Aaron. One drink and I’ll send you on your merry way. Please.
Aaron: Okay. One drink.
…
Josef: Are you leaving?
Aaron: Yeah. I’m going.
Josef [after a pause]: I lied to you.
Aaron:About what?
Josef: About Peachfuzz.
…
Josef: Aaron, if I tell you something will you promise not to tell a living soul…I need to get something off my chest…
…
Josef [to Aaron with the camera off]: I did something really bad. About four years ago the internet stated to slow down at out house. Spoke to a guy I knew at work who said maybe the browser’s history was full. I went home and I opened uo the internet. Aaron, such unspeakable things I saw. Pornography…mostly animal pornography. There’s only two people who use that internet. Me and my wife, Angela. And I was not looking at animal pornography, Aaron. I confronted Angela. She flat out denied it. What could I say? I knew it was her. This lie drove a wedge between us and we began to drift apart. One weekend I said we should come up to the cabin. Right here. But I was called back to work and I left Angela here by herself. The thing is I wasn’t really late for work. I went down the street to the 99 cent store. There I found a mask. It was a wolf. Three hours later I came back to the house, I put the mask on. I broke into the back window. Angela was asleep. I tied her up…at which point she awoke. At which point we proceded to have have ravenous, animalistic sexual intercourse. I’d never seen her so happy. I have to admit it didn’t feel terrible on my end. I escaped through the window and left her there tied up. When I came back the next morning as myself, I asked her how her night was. She said it was fine with a casual smile. We never spoke of it. We went home and in the weeks that followed the internet got back up to speed. Aaron, I raped my own wife.
…
Aaron: Have you seen my car keys?
…
Angela [on the phone]: I’m sorry, who is this?
Aaron: Aaron. Your husband hired me.
Angela: What?!
Aaron: Your husband hired me to film him. For the cancer.
Angela [ominously]: Where are you right now, Aaron?
Aaron: We’re at your house in Crestline.
Angela: You’re where? Okay, never mind. Listen, I’m gonna recommend that you go ahead and just leave right now.
Aaron: What the fucks going on?!!
Angela: Nothing. You just go ahead and exist the house. You will be fine.
Aaron: Lady, I’m trying to leave but I can’t fine my fucking car keys!
Angela: Okay, that’s fine. Just give me the address of where you are and just walk out of there right now. Just keep walking, okay?
Aaron: Am I in danger right now?
Angela: My brother has problems…
Aaron: Brother? Josep’s your brother? But…That’s…Your brother has cancer?
Angela: Listen to me, Aaron…you have to get out of that house right now.
…
Josef [to Aaron scrambling to get away]: Death.
[pause]
Josef: It’s coming.
[long pause]
Josef: There’s nothing we can do.
[long pause]
Josef [weeping]: I don’t want to die, Aaron…I don’t want to die. Oh, Aaron. Oh, God.
…
Aaron: I talked to Angela, man…
[Josef bolts away]
…
Aaron [to Josef wearing the Peachfuzz wolf mask and blocking the door]: Josef, please let me go. Are you gonna let me go?
[Josef shakes his head]
Aaron: Why are you doing this to me? Are you just trying to scare me?
[Josef nods his head]
Aaron: Okay, look. Well, I’m terrified, okay? You won. Now, will you please step aside and let me go?
[Josef starts to undulate his body and to growl like a wolf]
Aaron: Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!! STOP IT!!!
…
Aaron [to the camera]: A little context here…After our scuffle, I don’t know where he went. He just ran off. I had to get my car towed. And now I’m home. And, you know, I thought this was over. I was just writing it off as a weird thing that happened. And lo and behold a few days later I got this [a video of Josef burying something in the woods] in the mail. Which means he knows my address. That’s a little disconcerting. I’m kinda having trouble interpreting it. I guess he’s supposed to be digging a grave. Those three bags. I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a body or something…chopped up. Is that supposed to be me?
…
Josef sends him a package. Aaron opens it and pulls out a meat cleaver and another video…
Josef [on the video]: So, just to clear the air I do want to apoligize for that last video I sent you. It was a little manipulative and a bit of an emotional response…and I’m sorry about that. But in all fairness I wasn’t quite in my right head because, well, you did drug me. I found the empty Benydryl bottle in the house. And I gotta say, pretty cool move. So the way I see it is tat for tat, no hard feelings. But just in case, I thought I’d send you this little gift. To clear the air between us. I assume by know you have the knife and the video you are watching. But if you haven’t found the third element, I’d encourage you to press pause now…and dig a little deeper. [/b]
Aaron pauses the video and digs a little deeper into the box. It’s a stuffed toy. A baby wolf.
Josef [on the video]: I love wolves because they love deeply, but they don’t know how to express it, and they’re often very violent and, quite frankly, murder the things that they love, and inside of the wolf is this beautiful heart. And yeah it’s misguided, and yeah occasionally it murders things. and this little wolf was so cute, it reminded me of you, honestly, You know, that moment I scared you in the woods. and it was - There was murder in your eyes, but it was like, it was baby murder, you’re not ready to accept that yet, and I want to encourage you to embrace your inner wolf, so take the wolf and enjoy it, and more importantly, take the knife, and don’t be afraid to murder it, because when you stick a knife in something, and you gut it and you really dig inside, I don’t know man, there’s all this beautiful stuff. And um…I got a little surprise for you in there. See ya soon, Buddy!
So, he tears into the stuffed toy: Time to call the cops.
And then one more video. In order to reveal “the truth”.
Josef [on a video…the last]: …this is my attempt to be real and truthful and honest with you. The truth is…I…am…the truth is this is hard to talk about. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve always done this. I’ve been pretending my whole life. And there was this phase where I thought, “hey, I’ll just be an actor, because actors pretend”…But it did nothing for me because it wasn’t real…So I saw doctors and some of them thought “hey, he’s crazy” and some thought not. And there were medications but none of that helped…I don’t have any friends…I’ve burned every bridge. My sisters, my parents. I have nothing and I need somebody to talk to…
So he invites Aaron to Lake Gregory to be that friend.
[b]Aaron [to the camera after viewing Josef’s bizarre/chilling video]: What the hell am I supposed to do with this?
…
Aaron [at Lake Gregory to the camera]: Alright, Josef, I’m here. You got me. But know that I’m filming this and my phone is set to speed dial to 911.[/b]
Let’s just put it this way: It’s not enough.