CREEP

Kate, a young woman from the upper class returning from a party, decides to take the subway to reach a friend who should introduce her to George Clooney. The young woman, while waiting for the train, falls asleep on a subway bench and when she wakes up she is completely alone, trapped in the now closed station. After escaping an attempted rape by an acquaintance who had followed her there, Kate will realize that the London Underground tunnels are inhabited, in addition to by homeless people, also by a monstrous being that uses humans as laboratory guinea pigs. It can be calmly stated that in recent years, British horror has managed to surpass in quality the much-celebrated stars and stripes horror cinema; in fact, within approximately three years, some of the best horror films of the new millennium's cinematic landscape have been produced in England: I am talking about films like "Dog Soldiers", "The Descent" (both by Neil Marshall) and "Shaun of the Dead"; fun, irreverent, ultra-gory films rich in atmosphere, that wink especially at the horror cinema that was made 20-30 years ago. To the titles mentioned, we now add "Creep" by Christopher Smith, a dark story of monsters and claustrophobia, distributed in Italy with considerable delay and completely unnoticed at the box office. It must be immediately clarified that "Creep" is undoubtedly inferior to the aforementioned titles, due to a not entirely original story (there is a small English film from 1972, "Don't Take That Metro", which deals with very similar themes) and a script not always up to par; despite this, the film has the merit of having a very tight pace that involves the viewer from the first to the last minute and a location, the subway tunnels, little exploited by the cinema of recent years, but highly suggestive. The film was shot in a real London Underground station (the Aldwych) that has been out of service for several years, therefore it perfectly recreates a realistic atmosphere that shows us a disturbing and viscous environment, which alternates the aseptic white of the tiles that line the station corridors and the interiors of the trains, with the dirt and congealed blood that covers the environments frequented by the monster. In the screenplay, by the same Smith, a marked contrast can be noted between the false and "plasticized" world of the upper class, characterized by drug parties and utterly frivolous interests (meeting George Clooney!) and the disadvantaged world of the rejected and homeless who populate the metropolitan underworld and of which the figure of the monster (played by a heavily made-up Sean Harris) is also part: marginalized and condemned to live in those conditions by a society that would never have accepted him; a disturbing and disgusting figure, who at the same time manages to arouse in the viewer a great sense of compassion. The protagonist (a Fraka Potente in Barbie version) belongs to the superficial world that lives on the surface, but who during the film will come into contact with the underground world, from which she will be involved and finally absorbed, until her class rebirth in the liberating finale. We were talking about a not very impactful script, in fact "Creep" presents, in addition to a somewhat repetitive story (the monster chasing the victims), narrative naivety that, with greater attention, could have been avoided: above all the expedient that allows the protagonist to remain trapped in the subway (she falls asleep... not very credible really!). Furthermore, it would have been positive to delve into the personality of the monster, whose origins are not given to the viewer to know. Very well-stocked is the atrocities department, which includes, in addition to a discreet dose of gore, also a couple of very "strong" scenes, such as the operation performed on the girl immobilized on the gynecological table. In conclusion, "Creep" is a film to see, capable of keeping the viewer glued to the screen for its entire duration, thanks to a well-chosen sense of rhythm. Inferior to other examples of British horror new wave, mainly due to screenplay imperfections, but enjoyable in all other respects.