And so we return. Patrick Kack-Brice has blessed us with a harder hitting, deeper, and crazier rollercoaster than the first. And that’s so rare. It’s so rare that a movie sequel surpasses its original. But this cult classic has managed to pull it off over so many big name pictures.
Josef (Mark Duplass) is still killing people. But he’s going through a killer’s midlife crisis. He doesn’t get the same joy out of forming connections with people and then killing brutally. He expresses these thoughts with his latest victim in the opening scene before slashing his throat with a knife. Whatever will this melancholy ole’ serial killer do?
And then Sara (Desiree Akhavan) comes into his life. Aspiring filmmaker Sara shoots wedding videos for money and runs a Youtube series called “Encounters” in which she answers online Craigslist ads posted by strangers looking for weird connections. For example, men who want to be “mommied.” Shortly after she becomes fed up with her lack of views and convinced she is “deeply untalented,” she runs into Josef’s add for a filmmaker for the day to “go deep” with. And then the fun begins.
“with a man and a woman, there is always a wall between them. And that wall is; ‘I wonder what you look like naked…’ and if we’re going to embark on this journey together, we need to tear that wall down.”
One of the first things Josef (who is currently going by the name Aaron, the name of his victim in the first movie) and Sara do together is get naked simply for the sake of getting naked. Josef points out the divide between men and women due to sexual tension and wishes to abolish it. I think that’s one of the first big stabs at human interaction and psychology the movie takes. Brice and Duplass have not created a simple horror movie. I was going to say that they’ve created a commentary on how different people interact with each other and what drives events that unfold within the interactions, but it’s not a commentary. It feels like an active, unanswered experiment because, as you watch it, nothing is really answered. Under everything else it puts out into the world, this movie is just two people going through the motions of human connection.
“He’s everything you’ve ever wanted in a subject. You have to chase this… I know the decent thing to do is just give him space, but at the same time it would be so easy to go down there and provoke him, and get the material I need.”
I mentioned something about what drives interactions to further themselves. Sara needs an interesting story for her video blogs. Josef needs to find himself again, and he can’t do it alone. Both characters are trying to use the other to better themselves, but ultimately find that they both need each other. And when they no longer need each other, they need the other dead.
“What if I told you at the end of this road, I was going to cut off your head and snuggle fuck it?”
I read a review of this movie somewhere that said that the sequel doesn’t hold as much tension as the first movie. I actually would disagree. Josef is a highly unpredictable character no matter what scenario you put him in. It doesn’t matter if in the end he mostly kept his word. He’s constantly bending the truth, constantly running off, he changes plans last minute, and he’s overall just extremely erratic. The strongest tension is always present when a plot centers around a character you know you can’t trust. I watched this for the first time like a year and a half ago, and I still remember feeling completely on edge the whole time. I will admit, that tension goes away after rewatching the movie a few times, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You just become immune to it after awhile, which isn’t ideal for horror.
“I drained his life with my hands, and I thought to myself; well, this is my destiny. Sara loves her juicy fruit, and Aaron loves to kill.”
Something I’ve noticed the “Creep” movies do is reduce violence to a “matter of fact” kind of thing. Josef talks very calmly about digging into someone and seeing their insides, gutting them, and feeling satisfied. Not sexually, but just… whole. When violence is discussed in the “Creep” movies, you don’t feel uneasy. You feel like you’re listening to someone talk about taking a walk in a park. It feels normal.
I think this would make a pretty interesting Halloween movie. Maybe a good one for someone to watch on their own. Unless your friend group deeply appreciates the art of film. I tried to watch the “Creep” movies with my friends, and they were very confused and bored the whole time. Basically, it’s not a Halloween sleepover movie.
I actually don’t know of any other movies directed by Patrick Kack-Brice, but I will keep my eyes peeled! And the Duplass Brothers work on lots of movies.
Mooney's Corner 