Day 7 on our dark journey through cinema, and up today is the 2004 British flick Creep, the debut of director Christopher Smith (Severance, Black Death). The movie follows German fashion designer Kate (Franka Potente) who lives in London. One night during a party, she has plans to hunt down George Clooney with a friend, only to have said friend leave before her. Failing to catch a cab, Kate goes to take the subway, only to fall asleep and miss her train. She is now locked in for the night, gets attacked by a colleague (Jeremy Sheffield), who is subsequently mysteriously attacked, and encounters a pair of homeless people with a dog (Kelly Scott and Paul Rattray). Soon it becomes apparent that a deranged killer is stalking the subway tunnels, and Kate needs to flee for her life.
The movie starts off promisingly enough, with two sewer workers (Vas Blackwood and Ken Campbell) finding a hidden tunnel behind a broken wall. A sewer/subway tunnel lends itself well to a horror flick, as it possesses an inherent claustrophobic feel. We then meet Kate, who frankly isn’t exactly likeable. You don’t exactly hate her either, but she isn’t the easiest person to root for. I was more concerned about the dog. The movie does boast some nice gore effects, and the make-up for the titular Creep is nicely done. Smith keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace, and while giving us clues as to the Creep’s identity, doesn’t stop too long to over explain things. The film does have some lapses in logic, and a couple of incidents of people doing stupid, but overall is reasonably entertaining, if not entirely original. It’s available on DVD, and worth at least a rent. 6/10 stars
