Creep 2 | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Patrick Brice |
Written by |
|
Based on | Characters created by Patrick Brice Mark Duplass |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography |
|
Edited by | Christopher Donlon |
Music by | Julian Wass |
Production companies | |
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Creep 2 is a 2017 American found footage psychological horror film directed by Patrick Brice and written by Brice and Mark Duplass. It is a sequel to Brice's 2014 film Creep , and the second installment in the franchise of the same name. Duplass reprises his role from the first film as a serial killer who lures unsuspecting videographers to their deaths, with Desiree Akhavan portraying his latest target.
The film had its world premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 6, 2017, and was released on October 24, 2017, by The Orchard. Like its predecessor, Creep 2 was also critically acclaimed, with much praise focused on the film's writing, atmosphere, dark humor, and the performances among the leads.
Brice confirmed that a third film was in development. [2]
A prolific serial killer, using the name "Aaron" after a previous victim, finds himself dissatisfied with his killings and undergoing a midlife crisis. When his latest ad for a videographer lures YouTuber Sara to his remote cabin, Aaron changes his approach by admitting he is a serial killer who will let Sara live for the next 24 hours if she records a documentary on his life. Sara, doubting his revelation, agrees to film Aaron in the hope that the video will popularize her unsuccessful web series about eccentric Craigslist clients.
Over the course of the day, Aaron struggles to intimidate Sara, who plays along with his various eccentricities. While Sara continues to doubt that Aaron is a serial killer, Aaron informs her that he intends to conclude the documentary by having her kill him. He eventually manages to horrify Sara by staging a suicide attempt, which almost causes her to leave. However, after Aaron reveals that his life was not in danger, she remains to hear Aaron share intimate details about himself, culminating in the two sharing a kiss.
Aaron brings Sara outside to announce that the documentary will end with them committing suicide together. Sara attempts to escape when she sees Aaron stab himself in the stomach, but Aaron stabs her and drags her into an open grave he dug. As Aaron gives a closing monologue, a still-alive Sara emerges from the grave and strikes him in the back of the head with a shovel before fleeing.
Afterwards, Sara is recorded in public by an unidentified individual whistling a tune heard in Aaron's videos. When Sara notices the individual filming her, the camera abruptly cuts away.
Additionally, Kyle Field, Caveh Zahedi, and Jeff Man portray Wade, Randy, and Alex, subjects featured in Sara's web series. Director Patrick Brice reappears in his role as Aaron (referred to in the credits as "Old Aaron") through archive footage from the first film.
In March 2014, it was announced Duplass had plans on making the film into a trilogy, with RADiUS-TWC producing and distributing the films [3] [4] [5] and production taking place later in the year. [6] In February 2015, Duplass stated production hadn't begun due to scheduling issues. [7] In August 2016, Duplass began trying on costumes for the film. [8] That same month, Brice confirmed the sequel was moving forward. [9]
Principal photography on the film began in September 2016. [10]
Julian Wass composed the soundtrack for Creep 2. The song that plays in the end credits is "Botanica de Los Angeles" by Xiu Xiu, taken from their album Angel Guts: Red Classroom .
It had its world premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 6, 2017. [11] The film was released through video on demand on October 24, 2017. [12] It was released through Netflix on December 23, 2017. [13]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Creep 2 has everything that made the original work and more - more laughs, more awkwardness, more unsettling terror." [14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [15]
John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The sequel will impress any fan of the original. It's fresher than most of the low-budget thrillers gracing theaters lately." [16] Kimberley Elizabeth of Nightmare on Film Street called the film "hypnotically unsettling", giving the film a 4 out of 4 rating. [17] Mike Sprague of JoBlo.com said the film was "just as unsettling and entertaining as the original" and awarded it an 8 out of 10 rating. [18]
In 2017, Brice confirmed that a third film, titled Creep 3, was in development, with Brice and Duplass returning as director and star respectively. [2]
In June 2024, Duplass announced The Creep Tales, a half-hour anthology series set in the universe of the franchise with each episode focusing on a different victim of the serial killer. [19]
The evil clown, or creepy clown, also known as the killer clown if their character revolves around murder, is a subversion of the traditional comic clown character, in which the playful trope is instead depicted in a more disturbing nature through the use of horror elements and dark humor. The modern archetype of the evil clown was popularized by the DC Comics supervillain Joker starting in 1940, and again by Pennywise in Stephen King's It. The character can be seen as playing on the sense of unease felt by sufferers of coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.
A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.
David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker.
Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent film characterized by naturalistic acting and dialogue, low budgets, an emphasis on dialogue over plot, and a focus on the personal relationships of young adults. Filmmakers associated with the genre include Andrew Bujalski, Lynn Shelton, the Duplass brothers Mark and Jay, Greta Gerwig, Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, and Ry Russo-Young. In many cases, though, these directors reject the term. The genre is a mostly American phenomenon. The related term mumblegore has been used for films mixing the mumblecore and horror genres. It's also a type of music, typically hip hop, where the vocalists tend to mumble their lyrics.
Mark David Duplass is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996, for which they wrote and directed The Puffy Chair (2005), Baghead (2008), Cyrus (2010), Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011), and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012).
The Exorcist is an American horror media franchise that originated with William Peter Blatty's 1971 horror novel of the same name and most prominently featured in a 1973 film adaptation of the novel, and many subsequent prequels and sequels. All of these installments focus on fictional accounts of people possessed by Pazuzu, the main antagonist of the series, and the efforts of religious authorities to counter this possession.
Desiree Akhavan (Persian: دزیره اخوان, born December 27, 1984) is an American filmmaker, writer and actress. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut Appropriate Behavior, and her 2018 film The Miseducation of Cameron Post. She appeared in the found footage horror film Creep 2.
Creep is a 2014 American found footage psychological horror film directed by Patrick Brice, his directorial debut, from a story by Brice and Mark Duplass, who both star in the film. Filmed as found footage, Brice portrays a videographer assigned to record an eccentric client, played by Duplass. Creep was inspired by Brice's experiences on Craigslist and the movies My Dinner with Andre, Misery, and Fatal Attraction. Brice and Duplass refined the film's story during filming, which resulted in multiple versions of each scene and several alternate end scenarios.
The One I Love is a 2014 American surreal comedy thriller film directed by Charlie McDowell and written by Justin Lader, starring Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2014. It was released on August 1, 2014, through video on demand, prior to a limited release on August 22, 2014, by RADiUS-TWC.
Duplass Brothers Productions is an American independent film and television production company founded by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, two brothers who are also actors, directors, producers and writers. They have produced films such as The Puffy Chair (2005), Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), The One I Love (2014) and The Skeleton Twins (2014), and the HBO comedy-drama television series Togetherness (2015–2016) and Room 104 (2017-2020).
Donat Patrick Kack-Brice, known professionally as Patrick Brice, is an American film director, actor, screenwriter and cinematographer. He is known for directing Creep (2014), The Overnight (2015), Creep 2 (2017), Corporate Animals (2019) and There's Someone Inside Your House (2021).
Charles Malcolm McDowell is an American film director and screenwriter. McDowell made his directorial film debut with the romantic thriller The One I Love (2014). He has since written and directed the Netflix drama films The Discovery (2017) and Windfall (2022).
Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 and ran for two seasons. Executive producers included Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.
Intrepid Pictures is an American independent film and television production company dedicated to producing elevated commercial content for global mainstream audiences. It was founded in 2004 by Trevor Macy and Marc D. Evans, and is currently run by Trevor Macy. The company is based in Los Angeles, California.
Happy Death Day is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner. It follows college student Tree Gelbman, who is murdered on the night of her birthday but begins reliving the day repeatedly, at which point she sets out to find the killer and stop her death.
Ingrid Jungermann is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. They are best known for Women Who Kill, their directorial film debut, and web series The Slope and F to 7th.
Paddleton is a 2019 American comedy-drama film, directed by Alex Lehmann, from a script by Lehmann and Mark Duplass. The film stars Duplass and Ray Romano.
Happy Death Day 2U is a 2019 American science fiction black comedy slasher film written and directed by Christopher Landon. A sequel to 2017's Happy Death Day, it stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Suraj Sharma, and Steve Zissis. The film again follows Tree Gelbman (Rothe), now trapped in the same time loop of a different iteration of her world. Jason Blum again serves as a producer through his Blumhouse Productions company.
Scare Package is a 2020 American anthology horror comedy film created by Aaron B. Koontz and Cameron Burns. It features a series of horror shorts written and directed by Aaron B. Koontz, Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar, Anthony Cousins, Emily Hagins, Chris McInroy, Noah Segan, and Baron Vaughn.
The Creep franchise consists of found footage psychological-horror installments, including two streaming exclusive and video on demand feature films, and a spin-off television series in post-production. Based on an original story by Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass, the movies have co-starred the pair, in addition to a supporting cast. The plot centers around a serial killer named Josef who regularly posts listings for one-time videography job assistance, in order to lure in his victims; after which he saves their created video in his personal vault and assumes their name as an alias.