Film Review: Creep

Recently I had the chance to rent Creep on DVD. (It was released earlier this year in Britain but I didn't have the time to watch it in the theaters.)

The premise that attracted me to Creep was that it isn't only a horror film - it was a horror film set in the London Underground. Being a Londoner who frequently uses the Tube I just had to see it. It also happened to include Franka Potente (Run Lola Run), one of my favourite actresses.

Franka plays a Kate, a German socialite (her status meant it was easy to hate her) who lives in London. Hoping to bed George Clooney (who fortunately did not appear in this film) she attempts to head towards the Clooney party.


Creep (source: themoviebox.net)

Failing to hail a black cab, Kate decides to try her luck on the London Underground. She falls asleep on the platform (Charing Cross station*) and missed the last Tube train. She wakes up and guess what? The station is deserted.

Soon the distress damsel (and others - mainly no names soap actors) are running away from a nasty creature (great make-up) who happens to have skin problems. The creature by the way, did received a tiny hint of sympathy from me.

If there is a problem with the film it would be the lack of information on the loony creature. How did it survive that long? Why did they lock the station when Kate was still inside it? Why did a 1995 stock Northern Line train suddenly turned into a 1972 tube stock or the 1996 stock Jubilee Line into a 1967 tube stock? You know silly logics like that. But I wouldn't worry about that. It is just a fun film after all.

Creep is quite gory (not too much). In the age of "intelligent Japanese horror re-makes by Hollywood studios" it is quite refreshing to see a plain old gruesome film that does not try to be smart. It isn't scary but it isn't the absolute rubbish that some critics had panned it to be.

* If you are interested in the real star of the film (London Underground) then check out this site for an in depth analysis on the locations of the film