Creep (2014) Dir: Patrick Brice
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This found footage horror is a perfect example of what can be achieved on a minimal budget. The success of the likes of this, as well as other low-budget successes such as Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project, are proof that sometimes you don't need hundreds of millions to produce a successful and highly acclaimed film.
Director and co-star Patrick Brice uses the film's loose and amateur feel to illicit a very believable and foreboding film that doesn't rely on any CGI or even a substantial cast. In fact, only two actors appear onscreen throughout the whole film, one of them being Brice.
The use of handheld camera shots is not new, but Brice utilises it brilliantly in order to make this feel as real as possible - a factor that greatly increases the film's ability to unnerve and scare its audience. The film was almost entirely improvised by the two actors, with only a bare bones outline planned out in advance.
What this does is give a sense of legitimacy to each moment of dialogue that perhaps wouldn't be there with a formal screenplay. The narrative builds suspense very subtly, but very effectively. Each scene brings with it a new wave of discomfort and tension.
My only real complaint is that the climactic scene felt slightly anticlimactic, in that, with how they were building it, they could have finished off with a bigger or more unhinged moment. At just 82 minutes, this is a really quick and easy watch, which is perfect for the nature of the film, especially as there is so often the temptation to go unnecessarily long.
As mentioned earlier, Patrick Brice plays one of the two characters in the film. His performance isn't spectacular by any means, but his interactions with his co-star go down well and he gets much better as the film progresses.
His co-writer and co-star Mark Duplass is brilliantly freaky. He excels in producing moments which are steadily more strange and disturbing. His second act is particularly good, with some excellently unhinged scenes.
Overall, this is absolutely deserving of its positive reviews. It uses its bare bones screenplay and bare bones budget to its advantage, and maximises its overall fright factor as a result. It's very simple, yet clever.
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