Creep

Actor/director Patrick Brice makes an efficient feature debut (his other feature "The Overnight" will be released this summer as well) with a thriller about a seemingly innocuous man who turns into something of a, well, "Creep."

The film was written by Brice with a story by Mark Duplass, who plays Josef, a man dying of cancer who hires a videographer named Aaron (Brice) to record him talking to his unborn child. So off to a remote cabin Aaron goes, where he meets the immediately odd Josef, who is fond of scaring Aaron and telling him inappropriate stories. The first part of his video duties are filming Josef in a bathtub giving his imaginary child a "tubby" (bath). If that weren't enough to make Aaron excuse himself and take off, I don't know what is.

As the day goes on, Josef gets weirder and Aaron just wants to leave, but he finds it hard to say no when Josef offers him whiskey and money. Not to mention, he's a sociopath who can act like a creepster one minute, then turn around and seem like a genuine guy a minute later.

There's not much more to the story than that, but suffice to say that it gets more and more unnerving as the day unfolds. Truth be told, the story here is nothing particularly new. If you're a fan of horror films, this is an oft-told tale and the use of the "found footage" device doesn't really make it any fresher. What works, though, is the performance of Mark Duplass. Here, he uses his usual goofball persona and gives it a chilling twist.

As a director, Brice creates a decent amount of tension and there are a few nice scares. But his greatest invention is that of "Peach Fuzz." This is the name given to a werewolf mask that Josef explains was a gift from his father many years before. However, this mask will be used and talked about in unsettling ways that sort of made me want an entire movie about a crazy person in a Peach Fuzz mask. As silly as the mask is, it totally freaks you out.

Ultimately, there is nothing terribly surprising about the story, but it is still told successfully and is entertaining despite the fact. Brice hasn't broken new ground here, but he does seem to have established a character that could transform into something iconic. Hell, make a movie called "Peach Fuzz," and I'll be the first in line.