THIS MONTH
TALES FROM KIM'S CRYPT
THE CREEP FRANCHISE
LEGENDARY AUTHOR AND CRITIC KIM NEWMAN BRINGS LS HIS UNIQUE TAKES ON CULT CINEMA
МАТТHEW BRAZIER
PATRICK BRICE’S
CREEP
(2014) —recently a sumptuous special-edition Blu-ray from Second Sight —is the foundation stone of a mini-franchise which extends to
Creep 2
(nestled deep in the Netflix algorithm), and a six-episode continuation,
The Creep Tapes
— new on Shudder. It’s one of relatively few horror franchises to come out of the streaming era, landing on Netflix back when subscribers weren’t spoiled for choice and deceptive enough to spring shocks on viewers who clicked on it at random. Made as the ‘found footage’ boom initiated by
The Blair Witch Project
and prolonged by
Paranormal Activity
was wearing thin,
Creep
spins a simple twist on the premise —a monster who, unlike Bigfoot or your average witch of the woods, wants to be filmed —and wavers unsettlingly between indie uncomfortablerelationship comedy (think
Chuck &Buck
) and trapped-with-a-murderous-stalker horror.