We’re more than halfway through this behemoth of a series and I’m PUMPED. Every movie on this list is a movie I really liked, but every movie I’m going to talk about from now on is a fucking masterpiece. That includes my #9 favorite film of 2020:
#9. CREEP (2014)
I have already written at length about how much I love this movie. That is not going to stop me from reiterating that I fucking love this movie.
CREEP was directed by Patrick Brice and co-written by Brice and the film’s star, Mark Duplass. It’s a tiny, tight, gem of a movie that asks the question: what if your Craigslist gig employer really is an ax-murderer? But what if he’s also … charming and sympathetic? Duplass is magnetic as Josef. He makes it upsettingly believable that Aaron (Brice) is willing to hang around well after the audience is yelling “RUN YOU DUMB FUCK” at the screen while also hiding under a pile of blankets. (Just me?)
Clever, unnerving, and surprisingly un-gory, CREEP plays on our anxieties to make us scare ourselves before anything really bad ever happens. It’s low-effort high-reward brilliance from beginning to end.
How Did It Score
- How scary was it? 4.5/5
- How memorable was it? 4/5
- Was it a Quality film? 4/5
- Highly effective use of the medium.
- How about those women? 0/5
- CREEP is the only film on my list with literally zero women in it. Technically a woman speaks to Aaron on the phone claiming to be Josef’s sister but we never see her face and I just don’t think it counts. She’s not even a sexy lamp. She’s a mildly appealing voicemail. The lack of women is slightly forgivable since the cast is very tiny … but rules are rules.
- Bonus: 1.5
- I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared of a zoomed-out, music-free, blood-free onscreen death in my life. Plus half a point for Peachfuzz.
- Total points: 14/20
- Note: CREEP has the exact same score as the films from the last three days: HOST, RUN, and THE VVITCH. As laid out in the first post in this series, I used the “How scary was it?” score to break the tie.
