Creep (2004)

London. Midnight. Unable to find a taxi model-agency booker Kate (Franka Potente) heads underground. Waiting for the last subway train she dozes off and awakens to find everyone else gone. Gripped by panic Kate realizes she s locked in. But she is not alone. Lurking in the pitch-black maze is something unimaginable. Something that calls a deranged laboratory home. And something that s determined to make this subterranean hell Kate s last stop! Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 031398186250 Manufacturer No: 18625 Product Description

And you thought the New York City subways were scary?!

Director Christopher Smith brings you a low budget british horror movie that in my opinion is underrated and in need of a very positive review. I have little understanding of why this particular film gets anything less than four stars. The director did an amazing job at hiding the fact that they were working with a very small amount of money. All of the acting was wonderful, lots of blood, the "Creep" was made tremendously scary, the music was eerie, they created a tense enough atmosphere that behind every wall there could be something hurendous lurking. This horror slasher is an intense on the edge of your seat thriller. Unlike alot of other slashers, this one is far from cheesy.

The main character Kate becomes stuck in a train station underneath the london bridge, only to find she is not alone. Caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse is a woman trying to escape from a hideous mutated villian.

In this movie you get every satisfaction that horror has to offer, except for you men, there are no naked women. I know that can be a little disappointing but it well makes up for it with everything else. You see a high heel get jammed into an eye, jars full of dead babies, a disgusting monster, lots of blood and many more chilling, terrifying scenes. This is on my top 40 favorites for many reasons, the number one being it is very scary, nothing in the movie let me down. May 18, 2008

Terror in the Tunnels

This was a whole lot better then I expected. The plot was simple, Franka Potente gets stuck in the subway after closing and ends up running around the subway system being chased by some man-creature (very creepy looking guy). Surprisingly enough this movie is not as bad as the plot sounds. I have to admit, I rented it just for Franka but ended up enjoying it. Creep features a few decent shock moments, great quality, good creature makeup and what ends up to be an intriguing storyline. Well worth a rent or a cheap buy! March 8, 2008

1.25 STARS: Sewers, subways, homeless people, rats, and the Creep!

"Creep" is an English so-called horror movie about a woman named Kate who accidentally falls asleep (drugs and alcohol at the same time will do that to you) at the subway station, and encounters something quite disgusting and very dangerous underground, and I'm not talking about just rats. When Kate wakes up, she finds herself alone and the subway station closed. Kate meets up with some homeless people and they desperately try to escape the clutches of this creep.

The plot is not unique, but not necessarily a bad one either. However, there is a limit to what you can do with such a plot underground just by the very nature of the setting. Clearly, the underground theme was what the makers of "Creep" were after though. While "Creep" is not technically a slasher, it is similar to a slasher movie in structure, and the only real difference from typical slashers being the setting and underground theme that "Creep" employs. But, is this enough to distinguish it from today's horror movies? Not really, although to this movie's credit, it does not try to do too much with its simple plot. What "Creep" does do is pretty much what one would expect from such a movie. Indeed, "Creep" is an in-your-face horror movie with enough killing in the movie to satisfy most horror movie fans, although no death scene was particularly interesting. In fact, what you really get is a lot of blood splatter but not a lot of actual gore or on-camera violence, although there is some.

I just had a lot of trouble buying into the underground theme that "Creep" clearly relies upon to make this movie work, so I really did not like this movie. First of all, I should say up front that I am not a fan of movies taking place, in whole or in part, in the sewer system although "Aligator" was pretty entertaining in an unintentionally funny kind of way. Alas, I digress. Second, there's no style to "Creep", and it really does not offer anything unique or interesting in the way of plot or cinematic structure. Also, "Creep" is not much for character development, and while that is fine for a movie like this, I must say that there was not much to like about any of the characters in this movie. Moreover, there is very little suspense in "Creep" except for who is doing the killing, and this is rather unimpressively revealed to the audience during the movie. Whether the characters make it or not is rather an uninteresting or boring aspect to the movie because the characters really are not that likeable, and because the acting is rather unimpressive, overall. The lack of acting skills and rather poor execution of the film hinders "Creep" in its ability to draw the audience into the actual situation of the movie. Therefore, the audience is relatively emotionally removed from the movie's action. During some of the movie, I must admit that I was quite bored.

Overall, "Creep" is rather uncompelling, and certainly nothing to write home about, although I have seen much worse. As a side note, the movie presents an unintentional mystery to the audience in that it was not clear who the creep was going to be in this film until later on as the audience was torn between who was actually doing the killing underground or George Clooney (who is not actually in the movie) who Kate was hoping to meet at a party later that evening. Notwithstanding the movie's shortcomings and there are quite a few, one could do worse than "Creep" late on a Saturday night, but that does not say very much.

In short, "Creep" is not my cup of tea, but fans of low-budget sci-fi-horror hybrids or "underground horror" that takes place in subways and sewers (with plenty to disgust the average viewer) may find this one entertaining. Still, with that being said, there is nothing distinctive or interesting about "Creep" to distinguish it from the rest of the new wave horror rubbish being pumped out of the proverbial sewer known as Hollywood, notwithstanding the fact that "Creep" is actually a UK-made movie. Anyway, "Creep" is definitely a "rent before you buy movie" for anyone, and I would advise serious horror movie fans to avoid it unless it is for free and, even then, only in desperation. October 5, 2007

Creeped me out

There was a lot of pretty standard stuff in this film, like the bad thing popping up here and there and everywhere and the endless chases through dark tunnels, but this movie was intense. Take out the creature, the torture and the homeless people and you still had the heroine in a pretty darn scary situation, one that would have freaked me out to no end. Just being locked in the subway system alone at night would be bad enough. This was a low budget picture that looked kind of low budget but it delivers big on the thrills. Franka Potente...wow! She was awesome in this flick. I felt bad about the homeless couple. All they were trying to do was help. The surgery scene was a real test of the stomach and at one point I was unable to watch. Also the scene in the cages. Yuck!!!One thing I liked about this film was that there were some genuine characters in the movie, not just caricatures or a bunch of stereotypes. The director kept away from the usual cannon fodder, like the bimbo, the nerd, the jock, the girlfriend etc. Victims and killer all came off sympathetic to some degree. I would for sure recommend this to horror fans. Great atmosphere. Oh, and a dog too. What more could you ask for? August 5, 2007

Average, But Some Will Appreciate

I was anxious to watch Creep because I do not get to see many British horror films. I had read mixed reviews online, but I had high hopes for this one. It wasn't the high expectations however, that made things difficult for Creep.

The overall premise of the film could potentially be very, very good--perhaps the best in quite some time--being trapped in the Underground after hours, without chance of escape until morning. But, for being trapped after hours, there were too many characters involved. That effectively destroys the feeling of being isolated.

Unfortunately, the Creep looked and sounded like something out of a Rob Zombie flick. In otherwords, it didn't look very real or believable. On the other hand, there is good reason the history of this monster-like being wasn't overly developed--to keep viewer sympathy minimal--and I think that is important. As in science fiction, you cannot answer every question for your audience. In a sense, you can only facilitate.

I felt that too much light was used throughout the movie. For one, you're underground, for god's sake--let there be darkness. Second, and generally speaking, less lighting would have made the film creepier. For instance, it could have helped make the Creep more mysterious and spooky. Instead, the viewer is presented a full, well-lit view of the Creep early on. In this viewer's opinion, that hurt the over all effectiveness of the film.

There are a few scenes that I thought were rather odd--the operation room and the water cages for example. But, the ending is something that the director put a lot of thought into, and I do appreciate that. He did not want it to be the typical horror flick ending. I especially liked the irony of the last scene--the encounter with morning commuters.

I must add that I like Franka Potente, but wouldn't say this is her best performance. I would like to see her do more horror, though (Side note: I couldn't stand the dye job in this film).

All in all, I'd say Creep is a decent attempt at making a horror film. Judging by the interviews on the dvd, the director did put a lot of thought into this film, but that may have taken him too far away from what really sends chills down the viewer's spine. July 19, 2007

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