Creep Analysis

Creep was released in 2004 and was directed by Christopher Smith.

SETTING

Creep is set in an underground station in London, which usually is considered to be a safe and familiar place, but is presented otherwise throughout the film. When Kate, the female protagonist in the film, tries to leave the station she awakens in after she fell asleep, she is met with locked gates and doors, changing the safe atmosphere of the station, to a rather unpleasant one.

 

Another main location used is the Jubilee Line at Charing Cross. This setting was updated with current film posters to make it look up-to-date and recent with the viewers of the movie. The unused Charing Cross was used in the beginning of the film as this was were Kate fell asleep and missed the last train.

 

Aldywich was also used in the majority of the underground tunnel scenes. It works well with the schematics of the film, as dominantly, horror films are dark, damp and give uneasy feelings when watching, which is what this location did.

Characters

Kate is the main female protagonist of Creep. Kate is setup with a false killer through Guy, who happens to stalk Kate onto the tube and sexually assult her. This makes the audience think to whether Guy was the one wathcing Kate in the beginning.
The killer isnt seen until 45 minutes into the film, and it is not official if the killer is human or not, as it it suggested he is a creature rather than a man, which is emphasised through the use of scars, blood, no eyebrows and a crooked nose on his face. It comes clear to us through the movie that the killer is a psychopath, which is evident when in the operating room, the killer 'cleans his hands' with no running water before killing his other female victim. As Kate runs away from her doom, the killer (now going by his evident name of Craig) stalks her carelessly. In the end, Kate kills 'Craig' by using a metal chain in the wall, which Kate ripped out by herself, to finish 'Craig' off. At first, Kate appeared as an annoying and unlikable character, but come the end of the film she is the hero, but is ironic as everyone else is dead. When Kate emerges from the tunnel back to the station platform with Mandy's and Jimmy's dog, she ironicly looks like a homeless person, which is supported by the fact that a man gave her some money.

 

Iconography

 

 At the start of the film, blood is evident over the floor, and is seen all throughout the film. Other strongly horror related images are not used until the killer is seen later in the film, such as when we see the killer crazily pounding one of his victim's chests, and then it later has a rather bloody and gory outcome where he takes out a body part and feeds it to rats.

 

Camera Work

 

In the beginning of the film, a jump-scare of a woman's blood face running out of the darkenss which then quickly cuts to the scene of a party. This could leave the effect of confusion on the audience, making them wonder what would come next and to expect the unexpected.

Later into the film there is a Point of View shot from Kate, who happens to be looking for an exit, as she is paranoid that she is being watched by someone or something.

Down on the empty train, there is a close up shot of the peep hole of the drivers door, which then turns into a reverse shot to see the driver's blood face from where he was attacked. 

As Kate runs through the tube tunnels, three camera angles are used which are all handheld: behind Kate, In front of Kate and Kate's POV. Also when  Kate is running through the tunnels, it appears as the camera itself is running or moving towards Kate, which then they both stop at a close up to her face.

The camera shot from the top of the escalators is very steep when shot from a high angle, suggesting that when you descend, it likely you wouldn't be able to get back up

The use of the CCTV shots are ironic as they are there for people's safety and instead, the person in control of them is dead, which shows that no where is safe, as the killer now has access to see where everone is.

 

Lighting

 

In the beginning of the film in the tunnel, there is limited lighting as it is lit by a torch, this makes the audience look around the scene more, trying to find out what might be hiding in the darkenss in front or behind the characters.

The use of shadows of 'something' is seen is dramatic irony as the audience knows that it is there, but the protagonist are clueless. Torchlight and shadows are used again when the lights cut out on the tube. The torch is used to blind Kate so the identity of the holder is anonymous. Kate thinks it is the driver of the tube, but the audience know otherwise.

When Kate finds a door, she enters and uses the flame from a lighter to search her way through the darkness. When KAte uses the torch later in the film, Kate turns it off and on again, but the second time it comes on, the killer's face is displayed to us for the first time in the jump-scare.