By Connie Lee - November 15, 2024
If you had asked me a year ago if 'You don't know what you're missing until it's gone' could apply to the Creep franchise, I would have said no. But, after watching The Creep Tapes, I realized how much I really missed Mark Duplass' serial killer portrayal and his wolf-masked persona, Peachfuzz. The latest addition to the franchise from Duplass and Patrick Brice offers everything that made the first two films so fun to watch – tension, dark humour, and thick-as-butter awkwardness – but stands out on its own by kicking its unpredictability and weirdness up a notch and tying them into snapshots of everyday life. Basically, if anyone's ever thought about what 'Day in the Life: Serial Killer Edition' type of content would look like, this series is as close as it gets.
Following the 2014 and 2017 films, The Creep Tapes features the eccentric and secluded serial killer played by Duplass as he lures victims in while documenting his life. Shown in an episodic format, the series reveals the killer's elaborate ruses and antics that get bloodier and stranger as it progresses.
From the first episode, the non-linear plot gives an odd slice-of-life feel to the show, making serial murder and the killer's quests to capture prey feel like mundane parts of daily life. Even in the ickiest situations he creates, he has a special way of adding in boyish charm and endearment that almost makes us say, 'There he goes again!' But no matter what the killer tries to convey in his tapes, there's nothing normal or humdrum about his life. It's as if he's trying to create something like a coming-of-age sitcom, but the monster inside can never hide itself long enough.
As with the previous films, the dark sense of humour is executed very well, but this show adds another layer of cleverness to the IP we haven't gotten yet. Even better, Duplass delivers these sharp, hilarious moments easily. He's just as comfortable throwing out a pun about demons and exercising as he is whacking someone to death with an axe. It's hard to know whether all these were written ahead of time or improvised, but either way, the quips caught me off guard and had me in tears more than once.
What was especially compelling was the dedication to the same minimalistic, bare-bones style that lets the disturbing human interactions naturally come to the forefront and set the foundation for this much darker and nastier addition. Instead of elaborate settings and effects or constant jump scares, we're taken further into the killer's psyche and see him become more unhinged with every encounter and kill. Just seeing tiny bits of his backstory, his struggle between wanting to be accepted, and his violent impulses speaks volumes about how further off the deep end Duplass' character has already gone and could go in the future. Depending on the directions the creative duo wants to explore, the Creep franchise could end up in some very twisted places, and it won't be anywhere audiences are expecting.
By the time I finished it, The Creep Tapes had me feeling like I had been in a fever dream and that Peachfuzz could have easily been hiding in the black corners of my hallway. Even without presenting anything wildly different from what we've seen, Duplass and Brice have delivered another great addition to the Creep universe that's just as strange as ever – if not more. What made it even better was the obvious fun both creators had with it, and that just makes me hope there's more Creep in the future.
The Creep Tapes is streaming now on Shudder
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