In 2014 we were introduced to the weird and wonderful world of Josef/Aaron/we never really know his real name, a serial killer who loves collecting video evidence of his kills and the lead-up to their untimely death. Since then we have had an equally weird and wonderful sequel but fans have been calling out for more, thankfully our prays were answered in the form of a 6 episode TV series called The Creep Tapes, each one as unnerving and funny as the other; a fantastic addition to this franchise.
In Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice’s new Shudder series, each episode is self-contained, just like in the movies; and just like in the movies the story that follows is mainly just Josef (this is how I will refer to Mark Duplass’ character as his true name is never revealed) and whoever is about to have a very bad day. For the most part, each character is a complete stranger who has been lured in by Josef with the promise of money in exchange for something to be filmed for him. It then becomes something more than what we are used to, starts to get more bizarre and explores themes I wasn’t expecting it to go into.
Throughout the season we begin to gain a deeper understanding of Josef as a person and the world around him, his lore is explained further, one that we only really had question marks over from Creep and Creep 2. As these questions get some kind of answer his character becomes more and more unnerving but on the other hand you feel for him a bit more – maybe it’s not really his fault he is the way he is.
If you loved the movies then there is no doubt you will love this series too
Arguably we are somewhat used to this in films and TV, we tend to get a sprinkling of ‘no one is just purely evil just because’ in other shows but I can’t say whether or not this is a good thing for this series.
With each episode sitting at around 30 minutes, you can really tell that Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice wanted to have as much fun as possible without adding any fluff avoiding the need to pad out their material to fill longer episodes – which they very well could have done. The first 4 episodes are fantastically paced, we get to see another side of Josef in each one and you can really tell Duplass is just having the time of his life every second he is on-screen. Whilst the movies had some comedy dotted around, The Creep Tapes leans far more into it but still manages to keep a perfect balance of comedy and tension, I found myself laughing out loud one minute only to be complete silent the next eagerly waiting for the inevitable outcome, or screaming at his victim telling them to run and get out of there – there’s never a dull moment. As mentioned, as the series goes on we go down a more, arguably otherworldly avenue, exploring a deeper level of the franchise. This is exciting to see, and I am looking forward to it hopefully being explored further (already praying for a season 2). Whilst the standard stories we know and love is great, such repetition will inevitably get boring and start to lose interest from audiences, we need more – we want to know more about Josef and his world.
As a whole this is a fantastic addition, it explores some more fantastical possibilities as well as keeping with what we know so well from the movies. Duplass is allowed to explore other characters and does so with ease, bringing us comedy and fear in each of these 6 episodes. If you loved the movies then there is no doubt you will love this series too, I can’t wait to see what else there is up Duplass and Brice’s sleeves for the future.
I want Peachfuzz in my life forever.
The Creep Tapes is available to Stream now on Shudder
Alice’s Archive – The Creep Tapes
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