The Creep Tapes, on Shudder

You cannot be a serial killer without the serial murders. Unfortunately, the psycho-killer who sometimes refers to himself as “Peachfuzz” has plenty of videotapes in his closet documenting his serial killer credentials. That means he has more than enough tapes to sustain a found-footage streaming series, but, sadly for the victims, they all essentially end the same way in co-creators Patrick Brice & Mark Duplass’s The Creep Tapes, which premieres today on Shudder.

Much like the films Creep and Creep 2, the first four episodes follow a familiar template. Peachfuzz (or whatever name he currently adopts) lures a prospective victim to his mountain home or another isolated location, where he plays mind-games with his prey, before finally moving in for the kill. It always seems very unfair, because they are usually just freelance videographers hustling to make a buck on Craigslist.

Creep 1 was distinguished by Duplass’s manic scenery chewing, while Creep 2 is particularly effective because you really believe his prospective victim might make it, because she is so unpredictable and Peachfuzz’s own neurotic hangups have become so pronounced. The ambiguous ending held the promise of a potentially intriguing Creep 3, but co-star Desiree Akhavan is absent from the series.

Fans will appreciate the show’s consistency with the look and tone of the films, but episodes 1, 3, and 4 (“Mike,” “Jeremy,” and “Brad”) are basically the same thing all over again, as the “Creep” invites someone with a video camera to his home. Seriously, how are there any freelance videographers left alive in his state? “Mike” is probably the most tightly executed and “Jeremy” adds an amusing wrinkle, wherein Duplass’s talky psycho cons a leftwing would-be YouTube muckraker into thinking he is a corrupt Catholic priest. Unfortunately, the formula really looks tired in “Brad,” the series low-point.

The second episode, “Elliot” is largely more of the above, but it is impressively staged. For this killing, PF posts reports of a rare bird sighting to lure the birder to the middle of nowhere. This is probably the best directed episode, all of which were helmed by Brice (and edited by Christopher Donlon, another holdover from the Creep movies).

Creep 2: The Return of America’s Talkiest Serial Killer

The serial killer now calling himself Aaron (in honor of a recent victim) has always been somewhat prone to New Agey Deepak Chopra psycho-babble. All that self-actualization talk makes his murders even scarier. Yet, it also leaves him weirdly prone to crises of confidence and inspiration, but he always remains extraordinarily dangerous and unpredictable. America’s talkiest serial killer commences a new game of cat-and-mouse in Patrick Brice’s Creep 2 (trailer here), a Blumhouse production, which releases today on VOD.

Unlike old, dead videographer Aaron, Sara came to the “Creep’s” house thinking she would be the one using him. Her thing was Encounters, a floundering web series, in which she would film meetings with various sad, strange men who had placed personal ads online. Aaron sounded like a loon, which would be good for business, but she has no idea how right she is.

Sara assumes Aaron is full of it when he starts boasting of his many murders, but we know better. Nevertheless, she finds he preoccupation rather unsettling. He even shows her the last scene of the previous movie, but she still doesn’t believe he is the real deal. Of course, she will eventually learn better. She is in over her head, but Sara is tougher mentally than his typical victims. Plus, he might not be at the top of his game either—but there is always a good chance Aaron (formerly Josef) is playing her.

You have to give Brice and co-screenwriter Mark Duplass credit, because they basically keep the exact same formula (two strangers video-taping each other in a remote luxury home), but change-up the particulars substantially enough so that Creep 2 does not feel like a rerun of Creep 1. Obviously, the different gender dynamics play a significant role.

During the cringe-inducing Appropriate Behavior, Desiree Akhavan made us all feel like animals compelled to chew off a leg because we were caught in that bear-trap of a film. Happily, Creep 2 proves she can do more than American Pie sex jokes for Brooklyn hipsters. She convincingly portrays Sara as a smart, calculating, and deeply neurotic character, making her one of the most distinctive potential “final girls” of this year’s horror movie season.

Just as he did in the first film, Duplass gleefully chews the scenery, playing “Aaron’s” sinister gamesmanship to the hilt. Frankly, it is a shame Robin Williams never had the chance to dig into a darkly manic character like this. Whether it is real or feigned, Aaron’s bouts of depression give the second go-round an even darker texture. (It ought to prove how mainstream and pervasive depression is within society, when it even affects the psycho killer stalking you.) As an added bonus, indie filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (happily not yet assassinated after the boldly revealing The Sheik and I) appears briefly as a previous guest on Encounters.

As was also the case with the first film, Creep 2 is remarkably smoothly cut together by editor Christopher Conlon, especially assuming there was a good deal of improvising going on again. Yet, there are several departures from the first film specifically and horror movie conventions in general that leave us intrigued by what might lay in store for viewers in third prospective film of the projected trilogy. Recommended for fans of found footage and the original Creep, Creep 2 is now available on VOD platforms.

Creep: a Blumhouse/Duplass Joint

Patrick Brice does not want you to spend the night at any stranger’s place. Notable only for being exceptionally forgettable, his second film, The Overnight, chronicles the mounting awkwardness a yuppie dinner party turned sleep-over, at least as far as anyone can recall. For some reason, it has played just about every major festival, even though the only memorable thing about it are the jokes about the guy who isn’t Jason Schwartzman having tiny junk. However, you will definitely remember Mark Duplass is the title character of Brice’s first feature, Creep (trailer here), a Blumhouse BH Tilt production, which opens its belated premiere theatrical engagement this Wednesday at Videology in Brooklyn.

Like Safety Not Guaranteed, this Duplass film also starts with a classified ad. It seems a well-to-do dude requests the services of a videographer to film him over the course of a day. It pays $1,000, but “discretion is appreciated.” You don’t say. When Aaron arrives for the gig, Josef tells him he is dying from a brain tumor, but wants document how he really was for his unborn son. His inspiration is the Michael Keaton movie My Life. That alone should raise Aaron’s suspicions.

In fact, it does not take long for the video freelancer to conclude there is something very off about his client. Josef’s family vacation home is also unsettlingly remote. Nevertheless, one grand is one grand, so he sticks with it. At first, Josef just seems annoyingly eccentric, but he eventually tells Aaron some pretty whacked out stuff. Clearly, Josef is playing some sort of game with him. Unfortunately, viewers will have a better idea than Aaron where it is all headed, because they know they came to a horror movie.

Yes, this is a found footage film, but given the set-up, it makes sense to have all the bedlam documented on Aaron’s camera. Frankly, there is nothing radically original here, but it is seamlessly cut together by editor Christopher Donlon (fortunately, narrative developments allow for and even require a bit of snipping together). As a result, it is a tight film dominated by Duplass’s performance. He is massively creepy, so to speak, always just peaking over the precipice of camp, without ever plunging over the top.

Brice and producer-horror mogul Jason Blum owe a major debt of thanks to the owner of that mountain home. Its staircase is likely to become iconic among genre fans. Of course, Blumhouse does plenty of this sort of thing. They did not invent the found footage sub-genre, but one could argue they took it to the next level, nearly cornering the low budget studio market in the process. This is one of the better examples, powered by Duplass’s unabashed scenery chewing. Recommended for fans of Duplass and Blumhouse, Creep opens this Wednesday (9/2) at Videology (but it is also already available on VOD and even streams on Netflix).

Mercy: The Lovecraftian Grandma

Stephen King’s cool “Dollar Baby” policy grants accredited student filmmakers permission to adapt any of his short stories for one dollar, provided they are only screened in classrooms and film festivals. Naturally, the quality varies widely. As a result, commercial filmmakers really need to bring their A-games when adapting King’s short fiction for an anticipated commercial release, lest they be unfavorably compared to the Dollar Babies. Unfortunately, that did not happen with Peter Cornwell’s Mercy (trailer here), a generically mediocre reworking of King’s “Gramma,” now available on DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

While Mercy seems to be losing her faculties, her family is so boring, you might forget them too. The only one she was ever really close to was her sensitive grandson George. Much to the disgust of his older brother Buddy, they have moved back to their old hill country home so their mother can care for the increasingly erratic Mercy in what are presumed to be her final days. Unfortunately, Rebecca, the military vet and single mom, is the only surviving family member up to the task. Sadly, their degenerate Uncle Lanning is constitutionally incapable of responsible behavior. However, Mercy may not be ready to give up the ghost just yet, particularly when George is around. Whether Mercy is good for George is a different question entirely.

Mercy is one of several Blumhouse titles finally getting a DVD release after spending considerable time consigned to the shelf. It’s nothing special, but you would think the combination of King and Blumhouse would have guaranteed a decent theatrical opening. Nevertheless, anyone expecting something seriously Lovecraftian will be disappointed. Granted, it is usually a mistake to show too much in horror movies, but if you are going to invoke the name of Hastur and hint at a Cthulhu-like mythos lurking out there in the hills, folks are going to want to see tentacles at some point. In fact, Mercy arguably has too many woo-woo effects, but they all revolve around George’s bed-ridden granny.

Two time Oscar nominee Shirley Knight is pretty credible playing both Mercy’s dementia and her supernatural malevolence, but this is not going to be the film to get her back into awards contention. As the brothers, Chandler Riggs and Joel Courtney are instantly forgettable. Dylan McDermott also checks in from time to time, as Jim Swann, a friend of the family whose subplot is so underdeveloped we never really know why he is in the film until a supposedly big third act reveal. Only Mark Duplass manages to give the film any appreciable energy as drunken Uncle Lanning.

There are a lot of familiar horror movie tropes uneasily shoehorned into Mercy, giving it a cobbled-together vibe. Still, one rarely finds sympathetic Christian clergy in genre films, or King’s fiction, so the kindly Pastor Gregory Luke, played with dignified gravity by Eddie Jones, helps distinguish Mercy in a good way—but it’s not nearly enough. There are just too many annoying kids and not enough Lovecraftian dread in Mercy. For King and Blumhouse completists only, Mercy is now available on DVD from Universal.

The One I Love: In the Guest House

Many in the entertainment industry can relate to the frustration of undergoing therapy, only to find the underlying issue getting steadily worse—and therefore perhaps identify with Charlie McDowell’s feature directorial debut (a hit at Sundance, Tribeca, and Fantasia). In this case, his protagonist’s marriage continues to disintegrate, despite their couples counseling. As a last resort, they will spend a romantic weekend in a specially recommended resort home, but their getaway takes a strange turn in McDowell’s The One I Love (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Ethan was already losing Sophie before his unspecified infidelity, but it has become a handy cudgel for her to wield. Nonetheless, she agreed to the counseling sessions that have thus far proved fruitless. Taking a different tack, their therapist refers them to an idyllic hideaway, where they can hopefully rekindle and reconnect. However, there is a genre film surprise in store for them there.

Although it comes relatively early, there is a general understanding the nature of TOIL’s big twist should not be spoiled. It is safe to say that guest house will rock their world. In terms of tone, McDowell’s film is sort of like to the more comedic installments of The Twilight Zone—think of Keenan Wynn in “A World of His Own,” except darker.

By accepting the unofficial ground rules, reviews of TOIL must be torturously vague at times. Frankly, Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss give remarkably good performances, but it would be spoilery to explain why. Still, it is safe to say we can easily buy into them as a couple with some problematic history. Ted Danson (McDowell’s stepfather) also makes the most of his brief appearance as their mysterious therapist. In fact, TOIL was a real family affair, with McDowell’s mother, Mary Steenburgen contributing her voice as Ethan’s mother (heard via cell phone) and his famous significant other pseudonymously doing the costuming.

Thanks to the way the leads sell its double-secret premise, TOIL works quite well as fantastical dramedy. The jokes (improvised and scripted) are quite clever and editor Jennifer Lilly cuts it all together impressively seamlessly (again, you have to see it, to understand what a feat this is).

You know when bacon plays a pivotal role in a movie there must be something good on tap. TOIL is indeed that film. Nicely executed by cast and crew, The One I Love is recommended for those looking for an anti-rom-com when it opens this Friday (8/22) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.