Episodes viewed: 6/6
Creep lovers were plunged into a frenzy earlier this year when a cryptic post from one of the franchise creators and lead star Mark Duplass seemed to tease the return of Peachfuzz. Alas, a third film is still a distant dream, but horror fans were elated with the announcement of The Creep Tapes, a Shudder original series that follows Duplass' Josef (or Aaron, or whatever other pseudonym he adopts) as he traps more unwilling victims in his web.
The Creep Tapes‘ setup is simple. Each episode follows a new poor, unfortunate soul who stumbles into Josef's orbit, whether hired by him under the premise of receiving $1,000 to film him for one reason or another, or by sheer bad luck. The series offers six fresh stories that don't propose anything ground-breaking in terms of the film's format, but instead act as a sinister and scarily funny exploration of the surreal character we know and love and Creep's simple yet effortlessly effective found footage style.
The juxtaposition of Josef's dramatics and the simple found footage format never lets the audience become comfortable, putting them straight into the shoes of the serial killer's victims as they are subjected to a series of skin-crawlingly awkward scenarios before being hacked to pieces. They never quite know if Josef is joking or not about his true intentions until it's too late, and the audience is plunged straight into this uncomfortable questioning of reality from the very first scenes of The Creep Tapes.
There's plenty of Easter eggs for firm fans of Creep, and the glorious return of Peachfuzz, for whom we get to dip our toes into the murky pool of his backstory and exactly what made Josef the way he is. It takes some of the chilling mystery away from what were previously killings motivated by the unknown, but the lore-heavy episodes feature some of the series' most hair-raising and hilarious moments that will have viewers screaming in fright and delight.
Each simple, 30-minute episode is packed full of character development, and narrative twists and turns that hook the viewer into the demented mind of Josef and what exactly led to his disturbing collection of murder tapes. Of course, much of the series' horror hangs on Duplass' performance as the central killer, and once again he delivers a powerhouse performance that is among one of the greatest in 2024 horror TV, if not the genre as a whole. The reason the spine-chilling monologues and frenetic chase scenes shock is that Duplass' charisma oozes into every pore of his character, endearing the audience so much so that they wrestle with liking him as he butchers random members of the public before them.
The Creep Tapes takes everything that worked with the first two Creep films and gives viewers exactly what they want – more absurdity, more blood, more Peachfuzz, and more Duplass as well as franchise director Patrick Brice. The six episodes act as a masterclass in balancing humour and horror that never leaves space to get bored through its intriguing characters and fast-paced stories. Boasting some of this year's most chilling horror moments, The Creep Tapes season one cements itself as a must-watch horror series for new and storied genre fans alike. Now, who's ready for Tubby Time?
The Creep Tapes debuts with a two-episode premiere on Shudder and AMC+ on Friday, November 15, followed by new episodes released weekly on Fridays on both platforms.