Creep 2

A decent followup, Creep 2 follows struggling filmmaker Sara (Desiree Akhavan) as she agrees to spend a day working as a videographer for Mark Duplass’ sinister figure (calling himself Aaron this time around) – with the movie detailing the expected fraught back-and-forth dynamic that ensues between the two disparate characters. Filmmaker Patrick Brice, working from a script cowritten with Duplass, delivers a fairly interesting spin on the original film’s low-key atmosphere, as Creep 2‘s similar narrative has been goosed with a number of admittedly unexpected elements – with the most obvious and effective example of this the decision to transform Akhavan’s Sara into a far-from-passive foil for Duplass’ murderous character. It’s just as apparent, however, that the lackadaisical, meandering atmosphere of the first film is just as problematic here as it was there (if not more so), as large swaths of the picture feel as though they’ve been entirely improvised and the midsection does, as a result, suffer from a wheel-spinning vibe that wreaks havoc on the already-tenuous momentum. Duplass’ engrossing work as the charismatic antagonist is matched by a solid turn from Akhavan, while the movie benefits substantially from the inclusion of several overtly spellbinding sequences (eg Aaron makes an unexpected confession during a game of Two Truths and a Lie) – with the proliferation of such positive elements ultimately compensating for Creep 2‘s less-than-fully-realized atmosphere (ie this generally feels more like a sketch of an idea than a fully-fleshed-out feature).

**1/2 out of ****