Running time: 86 minutes
Starring: Franka Potente, Jeremy Sheffield, Vas Blackwood, Sean Harris
Rating 2 out of 10
There's a complex formula on the accompanying press release for the new British horror film Creep which lists all of the ingredients needed to make a genuine scary movie: Escalating music, the unknown, shock and a dark room all feature in this quasi-scientific mumbo jumbo, and they also feature in the film itself. But while director Christopher Smith's debut outing makes a stab at containing all of the requisite elements it lacks some of the key ingredients, notably likeable characters and a plot that contains one or two decent surprises. Worst of all, the most shocking thing about this horror film is that it becomes pretty tedious pretty quickly.
Kate (Franka Potente, who made her name in Run, Lola Run) is a twentysomething media type who we first meet at a party full of self-involved fashionistas, among them the lascivious Guy (Jeremy Sheffield). On a whim, Kate decides to leave the party and head into town because - wait for it - George Clooney is supposedly in London for the evening. Whether or not this is meant to be a joke is unclear.
Slightly the worse for wear, Kate makes for the tube but falls asleep on the platform, only to wake up and find it deserted. But when a solitary train appears, she jumps on it. This turns out to be a big mistake, as her night of passion with Gorgeous George becomes something the press release would desperately like to be 'a frightening descent into the shadowy world of suburban London'.
What it actually becomes is a chase film with a marked lack of suspense, involving the reappearance of Guy, a couple of homeless people who try to help Kate, and the gradual (very gradual) revelation that something rather sinister is lurking in the underground. There's meant to be a purported twist as to what this demonic threat might be, but The Sixth Sense this is not.
Potente does her best with a third rate script, which sacrifices any sort of believability and seems to be under the impression that it is profoundly scary. It's not, and is unfortunately quite old-fashioned in its take on what might or might not be horrific. There are probably more scares to be had in any old Hammer House of Horror film, and the deathly pace at which the events proceed make one long for the final credits to roll. Along with another British horror, the execrable Trauma, Creep would make a decent double bill as one of the worst British horrors of the year. And once again, the National Lottery has poured money into the production: does anyone there actually know anything about films?
Kate (Franka Potente, who made her name in Run, Lola Run) is a twentysomething media type who we first meet at a party full of self-involved fashionistas, among them the lascivious Guy (Jeremy Sheffield). On a whim, Kate decides to leave the party and head into town because - wait for it - George Clooney is supposedly in London for the evening. Whether or not this is meant to be a joke is unclear.
Slightly the worse for wear, Kate makes for the tube but falls asleep on the platform, only to wake up and find it deserted. But when a solitary train appears, she jumps on it. This turns out to be a big mistake, as her night of passion with Gorgeous George becomes something the press release would desperately like to be 'a frightening descent into the shadowy world of suburban London'.
What it actually becomes is a chase film with a marked lack of suspense, involving the reappearance of Guy, a couple of homeless people who try to help Kate, and the gradual (very gradual) revelation that something rather sinister is lurking in the underground. There's meant to be a purported twist as to what this demonic threat might be, but The Sixth Sense this is not.
Potente does her best with a third rate script, which sacrifices any sort of believability and seems to be under the impression that it is profoundly scary. It's not, and is unfortunately quite old-fashioned in its take on what might or might not be horrific. There are probably more scares to be had in any old Hammer House of Horror film, and the deathly pace at which the events proceed make one long for the final credits to roll. Along with another British horror, the execrable Trauma, Creep would make a decent double bill as one of the worst British horrors of the year. And once again, the National Lottery has poured money into the production: does anyone there actually know anything about films?
