Creep (franchise)

The Creep franchise consists of found footage psychological-horror installments, including two streaming exclusive and video on demand feature films, and a spin-off television series in post-production. Based on an original story by Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass, the movies have co-starred the pair, in addition to a supporting cast. The plot centers around a serial killer named Josef who regularly posts listings for one-time videography job assistance, in order to lure in his victims; after which he saves their created video in his personal vault and assumes their name as an alias.

The movies which were created with a shoe-string budget and released in collaboration with Netflix, were met with a strong critical response and viewership numbers upon their respective releases. The first installment has since been called a horror cult classic and one of the best found footage movies overall. Its sequel was praised for being an effective sequel, and worthy of its predecessor.

Creep (2014)
A videographer named Aaron responds to a request on Craigslist for one-day freelance project, requested by a man named Josef. The latter is suffering from terminal cancer, and states that he wishes to document his last days for his pregnant wife and the baby who is soon to be born. Collaborating in a remote location within the mountains the pair experience a friendly exchange. Aaron does his best to capture Josef's request, but witnesses some strange behavior in the process. Ignoring these idiosyncrasies at first, Aaron soon realizes that Josef fabricated his story to lure in an unsuspecting victim for his murderous plans. Realizing the truth, he must fight for survival by escaping the isolated location and Josef's ill-intentions.

After successfully doing so though he is now plagued with continually receiving gifts in the form of various video recordings from the assailant, Aaron is disturbed to find that Josef is obsessively stalking him. As any assistance from local law enforcement fails to provide him assistance, Aaron determines to confront his client by meeting in a public place. All the while, Josef has plans of his own to realize his initial plans through any means necessary.

Creep 2 (2017)
Josef, a notorious serial killer who has taken on an alias in the form of his favorite victim Aaron, finds himself dissatisfied with his recent murders and determines to try something different. Through another online job-for-hire advertisement, he lures a YouTube journalist named Sara to a remote cabin. Upon her arrival, he admits to previous murders and states that he wants to document his confessions on camera. To his surprise, Sara doubts his story but takes on the project but doubts his story. Explaining that she believes the experience will increase the followers of her unsuccessful web series where she details encounters with eccentric men she meets online, the pair begin their experience together. Throughout the day Josef / "Aaron" begins his usual tactics by attempting to horrify Sara, but repeatedly fails to have any impact. After staging his own hanging, "Aaron" explains his admiration for her, and the pair begin a romantic exchange. Unbeknownst to Sara however, her client has other plans.

Taking her into the deeper into the woods, "Aaron" explains the plot he has staged for the finale of their documentary. Showing her a large previously excavated hole in the ground, "Aaron" reveals that as a result of his affection for her, he intends their story to end in a murder-suicide. Though initially believing this was merely another theatrical experience, Sara realizes that the man she has spent the day with is in fact a real psychopath as he begins stab himself with her knife. Understanding the situation, Sara flees into the woods with "Aaron" in pursuit and finds herself fighting of her life.

Potential future
In June 2015, in collaboration Blum, Brice, and Duplass stated that there would be various "stories of Creep". In October of 2017, Duplass confirmed that there were discussions ongoing for additional installments; pointing to the scene at the end of the first movie where the audience is shown the killer's collection of videos about each of his victims, stating: "I want to see each and every one of those tapes." Later that month, he also stated that creatives may repurpose some of the stories that were created during the process of writing Creep 2. In a separate interview, the writer/producer/actor stated that the creatives involved are interested in creating a prequel, which would vaguely detail how Josef became a serial killer; while also stating that there will be a projects that explore the various victims teased at the end of the first film. That same month, Brice stated that one of the concepts that was explored for Creep 2 included the revelation that Josef is the leader of a cult group, while acknowledging the possibility of this abandoned plot-point being revisited.

In November 2017, Brice stated that the realization of a third movie depends on the success of Creep 2. By March 2020, Duplass confirmed that a third movie is in development. Recalling that he and Brice both felt like the second movie wasn't as good as they had wanted it to be, he stated that the current script has been written twice because they want to ensure the story is worth telling. In January 2024, Brice stated that while writing for a third film is ongoing, he and Duplass had been busy with their various respective production schedules. While discussing the plans for additional installments, the filmmaker confirmed that Josef's troubled childhood including the character's creation of the wolf-masked alias referred to as "Peachfuzz" would be explored.

Television
In June 2024, it was announced that a television series consisting of half-hour episodes had wrapped production. Mark Duplass will reprise his role as the main antagonist, in addition to writing and executive producing the series with Patrick Brice. The latter served as director for each episode. The duo explained that while they have worked on various continuations of the franchise, their own perception that the second movie was inferior to the original made them hesitant to continue until they determined the story they wanted to tell. The plot of each episode will depict one of Josef's previous victims, through the video recordings he saved as depicted at the end of the first movie.

Creep
Co-written by Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice, the project evolved from its original conception into the story which was realized as Creep. Duplass based premise in-part, on a real-life experience he had while living in New York. While responding to a listing on Craigslist, he was surprised with how quickly the seller began telling him their personal experiences through their tears, and repeatedly invaded his own personal space. Perplexed by how rapidly they perceived a closeness to him, he found himself thinking that if he didn't get out of there something bad may happen to him. The filmmakers created the franchise with a few questions in mind: Why do we inherently trust people that we shouldn’t trust? Why is it that we put an ad in the paper and let a stranger walk into our home without knowing anything about them? That story is so exciting and so interesting. For fear of being rude, or offending people, we don’t protect ourselves. And that feels big to us.

The project began its inception when Duplass and Brice first met, when the latter's wife was the nanny for the children of Duplass. In 2011 the pair formed a friendship, following Brice's graduation from CalArts and while he was under the mentorship of Duplass. While discussing Brice's post-graduation plans it was decided that because he enjoyed interviewing people and had an interest in documentaries, as well as their combined fascination with strange interactions while people-watching, they would develop a story where an experience within those parameters ended in a situation gone awry. Determined to create a movie together immediately, the duo began principal photography in 2012 where the initial cut was completed within five days and they were the two-person crew; their initial perception being that the film may never see a wide release. Depending on which character was the focus on camera at the time, Brice and Duplass both handled the cinematography as well as direction responsibilities during those scenes (though Brice received sole credit as director). Duplass continued mentoring Brice throughout the process, as this was the latter's directorial debut as well as his first experience acting. The duo improvised the lines of the movie, from a basic outline they've described as a "scriptment". The original scriptment titled "Peachfuzz", and was intended to be a arthouse character-study regarding interpersonal relationships with a use of dark humor. After various test screenings with limited viewers however, the audiences continued to connected with the thriller aspects of the story and their repeated feedback requested for more emphasis on the scary aspects of the film.

This process continued and progressed when Jason Blum, was shown a rough cut of the movie. Duplass and Blum, had initially met in 2005 when they were both making drama films and had resolved at that time to work together in the future. After Blum had released Paranormal Activity, Brice and Duplass optioned the movie to him. Blum stated that 99 percent of the projects that are pitched to his studio as a found footage horror, he encourages the respective filmmaker to develop the script through other filming techniques instead. After watching their project however, Blum agreed to join the production telling Duplass: "All found-footage movies come to me, and they all suck, and this one doesn't, I want to help." Responding positively to the project, he explained that he receives at least one pitch for a found-footage movie per week, because "[found-footage is] easy to make but very hard to make well." Becoming involved with redeveloping the project, the producer assisted particularly with restructuring the story's ending where the project was ultimately finalized as a horror film. With the successful producer as a part of the production, reshoots took place over a total of eighteen months with an additional crew member added. Meanwhile, the marketing team at Blumhouse Productions were tasked with portraying the project as a horror story, through its various advertising mediums. Blum later explained their collaboration on the project: "I come from the business side and Mark comes from the creative side, but every time a decision came up about Creep it was two emails, and we agreed. I’ve not had that ever with someone on the creative or the business side." As production continued, they received a distribution offer through Universal Pictures which would have seen a theatrical wide release. Through the distribution rights, it was requested that the project evolve into a trilogy, with contractual obligations from Brice and Duplass to create the sequels. Due to the $20,000,000 marketing costs this would have required however, the duo opted to maintain the self-contained individual movie they had created and worked with Netflix distribution instead; explaining that this option allowed them to earn a monetary profit in the process.

Creep 2
Following the movie's streaming release Brice explained that though they initially had zero intention of developing sequels, the final ending which was developed with Blum's assistance "opens the world a bit" as the audiences sees Josef's cabinet full of VHS tapes and video recordings of his previous victims. The filmmaker stated that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978), had been influential to his perceptions of horror early in his career. Netflix approached Brice and Duplass with the option to produce a sequel, citing the large viewership numbers which were not made public as the company's motivation. As the streaming service offered to provide a larger budget, Brice and Duplass developed a sequel while intentionally keeping the story small-scale similar to the first movie; though the concept was inspired by the 1990s slasher movie revival, with influences from Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend. Brice explained that four iterations of the script for the sequel were developed, before its current iteration was finalized. Explaining the writing processes, Brice stated that he and Duplass worked to create a similar slow-burn approach to the sequel's story, while acknowledgeding that they struggled with which story to produce, citing their combined fears of creating a poor sequel. The duo ultimately resolved that while the original movie had a psychological-thriller aspect where the story involved a protagonist questioning whether Josef was psychotic, or a harmless yet weird creep, before it's revealed to the audience that he is indeed a killer; the sequel was given a premise where the villain declares that he is a serial killer upfront, but his this potential-victim initially doesn't believe his claims, only to have a self-realization what has been going on all along by the end of the story. Principal photography was completed over six days in Los Angeles with a production crew consisting of five people.