Creep is a movie that came out in 2014 and is called an independent found-footage psychological thriller. Because it is a found-footage film, the majority of the movie is filmed hand held. This includes awkward camera angles such as a low angle when the main character, Aaron, turns the camera towards himself. The film is also heavy on eye level angles, which makes sense as the camera is being held by Aaron next to his face. Also abundant are dutch angles, which are done to disorient the viewer. There are a lot of zoom movements as well. For example, Aaron zooms in on an axe stuck in a tree stump, this also ends up being the axe he is killed with. There are also examples of pan movements. The first example being when Aaron is in his car waiting for Josef, the man who employed him, and he pans the camera to the window where Josef is waiting for him. In the first few minutes, there is an establishing shot of a "Crestline Mountain" sign as well as the name of the lake where the main character ends up dying. The whole film is basically a POV shot, except for when the camera is lying somewhere (like a table or a rock) or turned around to face Aaron. There are also a lot of close up shots of the two guys. There are a lot of wide shots with one of the two guys in the middle of the frame surrounded by trees or the lake, the house. An example of a two-shot is when Aaron and Josef are swimming in the water in the forest. As for costumes, the characters are dressed very contemporarily. They wear long pants, casual shirts, and jackets because it is supposed to be cold. One odd addition to these costumes is the wolf mask that Josef wears when he attacks Aaron and ultimately kills him. The lighting here differs. There are a lot of outside scenes with bright, natural light. However, there are also scenes during the nighttime where it is pitch black at the only source of light is the flashlight attached to Aaron's camera. The actors are two men in their late 30s. Josef is a stalker who pretends to have terminal cancer in order to trick Aaron into filming a documentary about him. Aaron is a videographer who takes up the job Josef posted on Craigslist because he is strapped for money. These two are the only people who physically appear in the film, other than the few phones calls made by Aaron. Since the only people in the movie are Josef and Aaron, there is not a lot of makeup to be done, just a few touch ups. Some of the bigger props include the axe, the wolf mask, a shovel, Aaron's camera, and a box of creepy things Josef sent Aaron. The setting consists of the mountains where they go into the water, Josef's family vacation home, Aaron's home, and the lake in the last scene. The editing is very choppy. This is purposely done to make the footage seem more realistic. There are no special effects like jumpsuits, crosscuts, inserts, etc. The only ones really discernible are cutaways, shot-reverse-shot, and the occasional eye-line match. As far as sound goes, there is not much more than diegetic and dialogue. We hear everything the actors hear because we are supposed to feel as if we are in the film. There is no score or soundtrack. There are also a lot of moments where there will be no sound and then some sort of crash or noise to make the viewers jump. This film definitely touches on the 5 main elements of horror films: foreshadowing, fear, suspense, mystery, and imagination. The biggest examples of foreshadowing is in the first 10 minutes where we see the lake the Josef kills Aaron, and almost immediately after we see the axe Josef uses. There is definitely a lot of suspense, especially in the cases where there is no sound, followed by a loud noise. The film does a great job at pulling on our emotions and making us use our imagination by using a very real-looking filming process, the video footage. Because of all of the jump scares in this film, this film definitely instills fear in the viewers. Our hands are shaking, we are sweating, and our hearts are beating profusely. The foreshadowing aspect is very interesting to me. I find that foreshadowing in any type of movie or book is a great way to keep the viewer scared at the end. When they see the victim killed by the same axe from the first minute of the movie, it gives a sense of closure but also immense fear. I really do not like the fearful aspect. This movie is great is instilling fear and keeping it there throughout the movie. However, I get scared very easily and this causes my imagination to wander and create scenarios that aren't necessarily true, which, in fairness, is the point of a psychological thriller.
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