Creep Analysis

Creep analysis

Film Settings - Charing Cross

-The film is set in the London underground station Charing Cross. This is a good choice for a horror film setting as at night time they are rather eerie places. However they are also considered safe places, as at night they are locked up and guarded but were also commonly used during the war for shelter during air raids. Our main character Kate becomes trapped in the underground, which makes the underground suddenly dangerous.

-Where the killer brings his ‘prey’ is an zoo like room, with separate cages filled with water, where he waits for his captives to die. This is where we are introduced to George again from the beginning of the film.

-The operating room where we see the homeless girl Mandy again, lying supposedly dead on an operating table. This place is extremely dirty and stained with blood, a typical feature of a horror film. Also in this room are many test tube babies, and cribs with names on. This place has a strange and eerie feeling about it.

Characters

-Kate is the main leading character who survives the whole film which is extremely unusual for horror films. She seems to be rather rich as throughout the whole film she is handing out £50 notes and £20 notes to the homeless people. However she does have the typical ‘damsel in distress’ characteristic as she relies on the homeless guy and the security guys to save her. In the end she uses all her strength to kill the creature ‘Craig’, resulting in her saving the day, even though everyone is now dead. At the end of the film she ends up looking homeless and we see a guy walk past and drop some money for her.

-The killer who we find out later is called ‘Craig’ we do not actually see until halfway through the film. Until we actually meet him, it is unsure to us as an audience what he actually is, a man or a creature. His body is disfigured as well as his face which is frightening, and his body is covered in blood. He obviously is slightly psychotic as in the operating room he thinks he is washing his hands with no running water.

Iconography
-The start of the film uses blood and it can be seen on the floor, hinting to us its going be a bloody and gory film.

-The horror genre is not enforced until we actually meet the killer and we see him opening the chest of a victim and using the insides to feed rats. We also see this when he ‘operates’ on the homeless girl Mandy. Both scenes have an extremely bloody outcome.

Camera work

-At the start of the film a close up of a bloody woman’s face comes out of the dark, reinforcing the horror aspect and then quickly cuts to a party leaving the audience in suspense, as they don’t know what happened or what was about to happen.

-POV shot used to see Kate as she is looking for an exit. This leads us to thinking that perhaps she is being watched, but by who/what we do not know.

-Close up is used on the peep hole of the train driver door and then a reverse shot to see a close up of the drivers bloody face with some kind of surgical implement on his face. Which we understand is from the killers room later on.

-As Kate is running through the tube there are three camera positions used (all hand held) behind her, in front and POV.

-Interesting shot used as she is running from the tube and through the station it appears as if the camera is running towards her. As she stops we see as close up of her face – nowhere to run/ being stuck this is furthered as the camera circles around her.

-The shot from the top of the escalators is very poignant, as they look so steep from the top giving the impression they are a very long way down giving the impression once you go down you’re not coming back up.

-Use of CCTV shot used after the homeless girl Mandy is captured – showing that they are of no use, a contrast of what CCTV cameras are meant for – or the person in control of them is not doing their job because as we saw, he has been killed.

Lighting

-There is very limited lighting throughout the whole film as it is set underground. Mostly torchlight and train headlights are used. Use of lighting in the tunnel in the start of the film is limited to the torch light of the workers helmets– this encourages the audience to look elsewhere in search of what may be lurking in the shadows.

-Use of dramatic irony a shadow of ‘something’ is seen so the audience know that ‘something/someone’ is there but the character is not yet aware of this.

-Torchlight and shadow used again when the lights go off on the tube – the torchlight is used to hide the identity of the person holding it and it’s so bright that Kate is unable to identify the person holding it. She believes it is the driver but the audience know different

-When Kate finds a door and enters she uses just the flame of a lighter to guide her in the darkness – much the same as the torchlight

-Use of torchlight again in storeroom. Kate turns it off and then on again but this time we see the killers face for the first time (this would make the audience jump)

Sound

-with the credits at the start the subdued screams of a female along with the blood would mean danger.

-Use of sound to create premature terror – the audience know that it is horror and so are awaiting the moment that will make them jump – but some moments are put there just to keep them on their toes.

-As one of the workmen head down a tunnel alone a creepy soundtrack begins, indicating that he may be heading for danger, also fitting with convention that one character goes off alone something is bound to happen.

-Music used to signify danger and aid the narrative rather than take it over or lead it.

-First attack (Guy) we see him dragged from the tube but the accompanying sound is far more potent the use of diegetic sound but no use of images to show what is happening to Guy this allows the audience to use their own imagination.

-Sound of babies used when the preserved ones are seen on screen, this adds to the unsettling images, and creates a terror within the audience.

Extra notes

-The opening credits move on the screen mimicking the movement of a tube train hinting to us what the film may involve.

-Clearly British first clue the use of accents.

-When a tube arrives at the station Kate believes that she may be able to get out however the audience know different as we are shown that another ‘body’ also gets on to the tube.

-Rats are pest/vermin and can carry diseases using them in the film signifies some kind of danger.

-The sound of the killer performing his ‘operation’ on Mandy along with the image of blood spraying in his face, would be a scene that the female audience with empathize with due to the fact that he has inserted the bloody, rusty knife into Mandy’s vagina in a way only the women can really relate to the pain that is being inflicted on this body. This is typical of a horror film as the woman is the victim.