'The Creep Tapes' Reviews: "At its best, The Creep Tapes transcends its content-mill trappings and becomes something approaching a work of art"

         On November 15, 2024, AMC and Shudder released 'The Creep Tapes', which has earned predominantly positive from critics, currently holding at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the drama, "A serial killer lures videoographers into his world with the promise of a paid job documenting his life; little do they know the mistake they made; as the tape rolls, the killer's questionable intensions surface with his increasingly odd behavior." It also can be seen on Amazon Prime Video. Read the full review round-up below.

       Jarrod Jones of AV Club says, "If Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass’ Creep must be a franchise, then The Creep Tapes is the optimum playground for it. Honestly, it feels like their found-footage horror series was preordained to be an anthology, given the finale of 2015’s Creep, where it was revealed that its serial killer lead, “Peachfuzz” (Duplass), was far more prolific than viewers may have initially grokked. His murder of Adam (Brice) was just the latest in an archive of video-recorded slaughter. Had Brice and Duplass attempted to wring a movie from each name in this death gallery (they originally planned a trilogy), they’d be making Creeps from here to doomsday. Luckily, their horror-comedy concept (deployed with even more creative zeal in 2017’s Creep 2) is tailor-made for streaming. And should the viewing numbers justify more seasons of this particular brand of weird, The Creep Tapes could prove boundless as an anthology. What’s more, the cult following that has since assembled around Creep shows it has a built-in audience, and Brice and Duplass’ elegant premise can easily sustain multiple rounds of Peachfuzz’s mirth and mayhem." Adding, "This endorsement shouldn’t suggest that The Creep Tapes is entirely without flaws. Its fourth episode, “Jeremy,” stinks, which explains why it’s stashed in the middle of the other vastly superior installments in this darkly compelling, frequently hilarious season. But it’s easy to ignore. “Jeremy” is the extreme version of Creep that all other installments (films included) threaten to morph into, a broadly sketched goof-off session where Duplass goes full ham and the frightening aspects of his conceit (co-written with Brice) wilt into nothing. Creep needs to be funny (it would be far too bleak otherwise), but it also needs to be scary. When the balance tips too far in either direction, Creep becomes neither. “Jeremy,” a quickie concerning an online “gotcha” artist (Josh Fadem) who confronts a bawdy priest (Duplass in a cassock), proves this with grating clarity. That episode notwithstanding, Brice and Duplass are showcasing their mastery of the anthologized format here. As a subgenre, found footage can be a tricky gimmick. The immersion required to be effective demands an attentive storyteller, deft camerawork, and committed performances. There’s also a fourth-wall-breaking element at play, as the viewer should feel they’re in on what’s happening onscreen. The Creep Tapes maintains the hand-held immediacy of the films—with those obnoxiously effective jump-scares, moments where Peachfuzz lets his mask slip (on or off) while his victim carries on unaware, and other subtle forecasts of doom—which makes it feel absorbing, even transgressive, as if one has clicked too deeply into the forbidding corners of the internet. At its best, The Creep Tapes transcends its content-mill trappings and becomes something approaching a work of art."

Photo by Lynda Sanchez on Unsplash

        Kaiya Shunyata of RogerEbert.com was less impressed, stating, "The first episode of the series, titled "Mark," unfolds similarly to how both films did. A man wielding a camera like a flashlight walks up to a nearly snowed-in cabin, greeted only by a sign on the door which reads: "Just double checking that you are already rolling! Further instructions await you inside!" He then enters the dimly lit interior before the camera jolts up, revealing Duplass' name-changing character, dressed as a vampire. Eventually, he's lured out into the cold and chased through the snow in an intense game of hide and seek. The cameraman's gasps and Duplass' gleeful cheers are the only things to be heard until he finally kills his victim with an ax. It's almost a direct rehashing of the previous two films, and while fun to watch, the beginning of episode two signals that this isn't going to change anytime soon. While "Creep" isn't necessarily a film that needs a prequel that examines why its villain is the way he is, blatantly recreating your franchise's "greatest hits" and selling it to your fans as a new product makes for a frustrating watch. While some episodes work and feel like fresh new products in the found footage genre, most do not feel so different from your average "V/H/S" film. It makes for a series that lacks depth, forcing you to question whether or not this show is coming too many years too late." Continuing, "Despite its lackluster storytelling, one of this series' shining qualities is that each episode has its own identity. While Duplass' jovial-but-sinister schtick gets old about halfway through each chapter, there's no denying that each still manages to make you feel uneasy. Although the first episode plays out too similarly to the films, the second comes along and proves that outside of a house or cabin, the villain of these stories is perhaps even more unhinged than he already was. But then, while still holding their own narrative, we're once again forced to watch these tricks play out similarly to the previous episode. With a runtime of around 30 minutes each, there's no reason for "The Creep Tapes" to drag, but there comes a point in each episode where you feel as if you're stuck in a groundhog-day scenario. It's unfortunate that the series' best episode comes so early in the six-episode run, breathing some much-needed life into a series that now feels like a product of its time. After a seven-year wait, some fans may be happy to see Duplass hamming it up on screen again, but unfortunately, that's the only thing this new series has to offer. The black humor is there, and so is the found footage that made the original films feel so cutting edge. However, the scares become redundant after the second episode until you feel this might have just been made into another film."