Creep and Creep 2 have gained a rabid cult following with horror fans captivated by its warped humour and bone-chilling scares, made to feel all the more grimy in its simplistic found footage format. Co-creators and stars Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass created a world full of possibilities to explore with serial killer Josef (or whatever his name actually is), and it's one they have expanded with tremendous scale in TV adaptation The Creep Tapes. First released in 2024, the Shudder and AMC+ series explores Josef's cabinet of horrors filled with the recordings of his crimes, with each new episode exploring a new victim while dropping little crumbs of Peachfuzz lore along the way.
Season two follows the same premise with six new tapes for fans to enjoy, and a whole host of guest appearances from the likes of Robert Longstreet, Katie Aselton, Diego Josef, Desean Terry, Alec Bewkes, Linas Phillips, Taylor Garron, Timm Sharp, Jody Lambert, Jeff Man, and David Dastmalchian. As well as establishing some new backstory for Josef (Duplass), it also annihilates some pre-existing ideas fans of the franchise may have had, leaving us as confused and as hooked as ever.
Adapting Creep to an episodic format worked so well in its first season thanks to Duplass, Brice, and crew staying true to the simplistic format of the franchise – found footage tapes that end with the brutal death of Josef's latest victim, with the hook being how he gets there. But where The Creep Tapes is a stroke of genius is in how its creators experiment, bringing in homages to a plethora of genres and mediums that give each episode its own unique punch. Season two expands this further, covering everything from copycat killers to a Saw-inspired torture chamber, throwing Josef into more outlandish situations than ever to enact his schemes.
Duplass is as enigmatic and terrifying as ever as Josef, delivering spine-chilling monologues and piercing one-liners with equal panache, commanding the camera whenever he is in front of it. His character's theatricality is pumped up to incredible heights in The Creep Tapes season two, and yet we also see Josef as vulnerable as ever as he faces his demons in more ways than one as the episodes progress. We see Josef stumble for the first time in its lengthy ‘career', and it's arguably the most terrifying thing the franchise has experienced yet. Dastmalchian is similarly deranged as a copycat killer inspired after seeing one of Josef's tapes on the internet, and Katie Aselton is hilariously wild as the boozy, brash Angela, Josef's secret lover.
The Creep Tapes season two improves on the formula laid out in season one in every way. As the credits roll on each episode, viewers are left begging for more thanks not only to Duplass' masterful performance, but that of the carefully selected guest cast that complements Josef's lunacy. While there is certainly a danger of the format becoming stale and played out, Duplass and Brice keep each installment fresh and exciting by exploring avenues and styles that, for all intents and purposes, should not work as well as they do, but it's this nonsensical boldness that captures the very heart of the Creep franchise. Long may Peachfuzz reign.
6 out of 6 episodes were available to view
The Creep Tapes season two begins on Shudder and AMC+ on November 14
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