Creep 2 (2017) - A Smart, Suspenseful Sequel That Improves Upon its Predecessor

It seems that not everyone read my review of the first Creep. I explicitly expressed my concern regarding people spending time in the woods with strange men, and yet here we are, with yet another film in which this rather sage advice is impudently disregarded. Can't say I didn't warn you.

The second entry in the found footage horror series from director Patrick Brice was released back in 2017 directly to online platforms. It again follows the misadventures of everyone's favorite Creep, played ably by Mark Duplass. Brice and Duplass collaborated once more on the screenplay, and it feels like they were creatively liberated upon approaching this sequel. This is a smarter, more complex second installment that markedly improves upon nearly every aspect of the first film. It's funnier. It's creepier. And ultimately, it's a more affecting and resonant viewing experience, despite its flaws.

Creep 2 revolves around an entirely new target for Duplass' character, who now rather unsettlingly goes by Aaron, the name of his victim in the first movie. Sara is a struggling, directionless grad student with a failing web series called Encounters, which entails her responding to online ads posted by strange, lonely men who ask her to do all manner of awkward things to and for them, from synchronize swimming in their pools to holding them in her arms like a baby. She inevitably comes across a varied collection of weirdos and creeps. But none of them are quite like him.

She's beginning to doubt the viability of her web show, and whether she actually possesses any talent as a creator. That's when she stumbles upon an exceptionally vague Craigslist ad requesting a videographer for the day. Desperate for content (and an interesting subject to analyze), she decides to take up the mysterious opportunity, completely unaware of what she's getting herself into. Upon contacting the ad's owner, he has but one question about her qualifications: "Do you scare easily?" She suspects he's just another one of her societal outcasts attempting to be edgy. We know better.

The first way in which Creep 2 ameliorates its predecessor's shortcomings is in the development of the main character. Sara is an infinitely more interesting protagonist than Aaron was in the first film. While the latter felt like an incredibly generic and featureless stand-in for the audience, you actually get the sense that Sara is her own person with aspirations, anxieties, and complexities like the rest of us. Because the central character is more believable and sympathetic, the rest of the film exudes more gravitas. We have a reason to be invested in the story as audience members, which I did not feel during my viewing of the first movie.

Furthermore, it feels as though Brice and Duplass finally slice beneath the surface level of Duplass' titular creep. While he was successfully ambiguous and very entertaining to watch in the previous movie, the script did not possess substantive exploration of the psychological disposition behind someone compelled to kill. It felt like a much simpler, more reductive portrayal of a serial killer than its eminently more incisive sequel. In Creep 2, the filmmakers perform a much more dynamic and engrossing probe into the character's psyche, and the film is all the better for it.

In my review of the first Creep, I remarked that it felt "like a really effective proof of concept film that would be used to parlay funding for a feature". Creep 2 is that more efficacious feature. It similarly rides the delicate line between awkwardly humorous and disquietingly tense, but it does so in a much more confident and engaging manner. It's not without its own hiccups, most notably the questionable decision-making that plagues a large swath of the horror movie genre. However, it's not as bogged down by its imperfections as its predecessor.

The first Creep sluggishly crawled to its predictable conclusion after an uninspired final act. Creep 2 flourishes in its closing moments, and when the screen cut to black, I felt like I could watch another 20 minutes.

B+

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