Creep

In Creep, Franka Potente plays Kate – a flirtatious young woman who finds herself locked in the London subway system after hours. After a slimy colleague – who followed her in – is murdered right in front of her, Kate must escape the clutches of a mysterious creature that seems determined to kill anyone in its path. There’s nothing terribly original or even scary about Creep and Christopher Smith’s screenplay is crammed with some absolutely atrocious dialogue – and yet as a sort of Halloween clone set underground, the film works. Actor Sean Harris does a nice job as the Creep, while Potente has perfected the scream-and-run technique movies like this seem to require. Though Kate does confront the monster towards the end, the majority of the movie finds her playing a typical horror victim (ie she flees after knocking the Creep unconscious, when she should’ve just finished him off). As far as movie monsters go, the Creep isn’t bad – though it doesn’t entirely make sense that he’s as murderous as he is, particularly in light of certain revelations regarding his origins. Though Creep doesn’t re-invent the slasher flick by any stretch of the imagination, it’s a fairly well-made variation on the genre that should please gorehounds.

**1/2 out of ****