THE CREEP TAPES: SEASON ONE (2025)
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Cert. 15
Duration: 150 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Patrick Brice
Cast: Mark Duplass, Josh Faden, Josh Ruben
Director Patrick Brice (There's Someone Inside Your House) and actor Mark Duplass (Baghead) return to the found-footage Creep property with a six-episode Shudder Original series, with Duplass once more playing the charismatic and sinister, name-changing killer, who in the first two films in the franchise lured videographers to his remote home under the pretense of filming a diary of his life, or filming some acting experiments, only to find themselves axed to death after he's fucked with their expectations and emotions right up till their breaking point. Over the course of six roughly half hour long episodes the pernicious prankster, along with his sinister alter-ego Peachfuzz, once again plays mind games with more hapless and unsuspecting videographers, as well as a bird watcher, and even his own mother, and her new beau. He takes perverse pleasure in delivering jump scares, and making the situations so wildly awkward that they defy the usual logic of societal norms, luring and trapping his victims with the promise of increased paydays, some of them so confused by the his oddball rouses that they never even see it coming, until the ax is about to split open their skulls.
I dig the half hour format and how we get a new victim every episode, it keeps things fresh, and Duplass is so engaging and supremely weird that the episodes fly by real quick, so much so that I binged the six episodes in one sitting, and then again the next day did the same thing again to watch it with my wife, and I did not regret it.
The first episode features videographer Mike (Mike Luciano ), who is hired by ‘Jeff Daniels’ (Duplass) to shoot a film school application video. Things get really weird, the demands Jeff is making on the guy get progressively odder and darker, but he keep slapping more hundred dollar bills down and the guy just cannot say no. He eventually gets snowed in and is unable to leave, resulting in the pair shooting a murder scene in the snow with a "rubber axe", only realizing too late that he's involved in making a snuff film, and he's the victim.
In episode two Duplass's ambiguous killer stages an sky diving accident in the middle of nowhere to meet-up with bird watcher Elliot (David Nordstrom), recruiting him to record a video for ‘insurance purposes’, only to learn that he's not the only one who seeks out and stalk the objects of his desire, with the skydiver continuously baiting him along with the promise of knowing where a rare "blue footed" bird he seeks is located nearby, being strung along way past the point of reasonability, only to be snuffed out.
In episode three Duplass's killer is disguised as a Catholic priest named Father Tim, who is approached by a ‘gotcha’ video YouTuber named Josh Faden (Twin Peaks: The Return), who secretly wishes to expose the crimes of the church, but who is instead surprised when the "priest" turns out to be a table-turning homicidal maniac - "gotcha" indeed!
In episode four Duplass's killer hires Brad (Josh Ruben, Scare Me), who is a down-on-his-luck true-crime filmmaker, who decades ago made a true crime film that our demented psycho-killer absolutely loves. After arriving the killer shows the filmmaker a corpse in a bedroom, shocking him, revealing that as a huge fan of the his earlier film, and that he wants Brad to make a documentary about him. he hesitantly agrees, realizing that he has little choice. As the night wears on things only get stranger and stranger, another corpse appears, and he finds himself involved with disposing of a body.
Episode five was my least favorite of of the six, it features Duplass as "Kyle" who is in a seedy hotel room waiting for the arrival of his next victim. It explores the psyche of his animalistic alter-ego ‘Peachfuzz’ and did not connect with me, Kyle is waiting for a videographer named Brandt (Scott Pitt) who is running late and who he fears ight not show, so he's left to deal with his and Peachfuzz's issues. Like I said, my least favorite of the six, but the last couple of seconds redeems it quite a bit.
Saving the best for last is the season finale which gives us some of our ambiguous killer's backstory, we meet his mom (Krisha Fairchild, Channel Zero: Butcher's Block) as he goes tot he cabin to hang with her and meet her new beau Albert (John Craven). This episode is a banger, you now his mom is weird, he didn;t just come out of thin air. Right off the bat she's recreated his childhood bedroom complete with posters, music, and his prized stuff wolf (which he decapitated as a kid). The places this goes, oh my, behind every demented psycho-killer there's a lobing demented mom, for sure.
The Creep Tapes doesn't really expand or stray much on what the two films did, but I like the bite sized offerings, and how we can peel through new victims in quick succession. The key to the shows success is exactly what the film had going for them, Mark Duplass's is terrifying as the unnerving, slyly manipulative and strangely charismatic killer. At first sight he sort of seems harmless, but with a just-off weird aura and energy, he has that smile and way about him that should make you want to flee in ambiguous terror, but social niceties, and sometimes because of financial considerations, the victims stays, and by the time they realized they're into it up to their neck, it too late, they're caught.
Audio/Video: The Creep Tapes arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Acorn Media International, presented in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1). As the film was meant to emulate, and was shot on, consumer grade, hand-held video it doesn't exactly translate to HD perfection, by design, but is generally looks quite strong in that regard. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, and again, it's limited by design, but seems accurate to the found-footage format of it.
Extras include a Shudder Social Q&A with Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice, as well as Filmmaker Audio Commentaries for all six episodes. the single-disc release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a single-sided wrap.
Special Features:
• Shudder Social Q&A with Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice (1:03)
• Filmmaker Audio Commentary
Special Features:
• Shudder Social Q&A with Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice (1:03)
• Filmmaker Audio Commentary
Screenshots from the Acorn Media International Blu-ray:
