Creepy (2016)
Gareth Jones
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Starring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yûko Takeuchi, Masahiro Higashide, Teruyuki Kagawa
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Screened at Mayhem 2016
When a brief mistake during questioning leads to a near-fatal altercation with a suspect, detective Takakura (Nishijima) abandons the force in favour of becoming a University lecturer – but he can’t quite take his mind off of a cold case involving a disappeared family and their single remaining daughter.
Moving into a new home, Takakura and his wife, Yasuko (Takeuchi), deal with the general stresses of settling in – including getting to know the neighbours, one of whom is the socially awkward Nishino (Kagawa), a secretive individual with his own teenage daughter, Mio, and depression-suffering wife.
As Takakura’s ongoing investigation into the disappearances unfolds, both he and Yasuko find their encounters with the leering Nishino becoming a strange alternate flip-flop between quietly threatening and awkwardly over-friendly. When Mio unexpectedly corners Takakura and informs him that the man in her house is not her father – he is, in fact, a total stranger – Takakura slowly begins to put the pieces together, realising that the answer to the mystery that has plagued his mind for years may in fact reside right next door.
And to Creepy’s disservice, “slowly” is the operative word of the day. At more than two hours in length, Kurosawa’s mystery often feels stuck in place – primarily owing to a lack of distinct narrative surprises. The briefest knowledge of the film’s storyline is enough to gauge where it’s likely to be headed – in a general sense – and whilst the revelations are certainly there for Takakura’s character on a personal level, few of them are shared with the audience.
Yet while this is definitely an issue, and Creepy certainly wouldn’t suffer were it given a good trim, it’s difficult not to remain absorbed given the sheer amount of cinematic confidence on display. Kurosawa is a filmmaker of fairly impeccable skill, and even though Creepy frequently spends too long revisiting or musing over certain elements, it rarely feels meandering or unfocused. Front and centre are a range of nuanced characters, brought to life by a faultless cast across the board – especially Kagawa’s intricately unhinged, and supremely self-assured, human monster whose mind-bending modus operandi is Creepy’s stand-out move.
Nishino’s behaviour – and effect on others – may be a little tricky for some to accept, but it’s what lends Creepy its own individual slant and, frankly, justifies the title. This is a quiet exercise in the oft-touted banality of evil and as events ramp up in severity come the third act, Kurosawa does well with quietly subverting expectations, sending Takakura’s careless single-mindedness back round to bite him.
Spotlessly presented in terms of its technicality, Creepy is a low-key thriller that capably works its way under the skin and sits there, quietly picking and outright refusing to revel in bombast – but as appears to be Kurosawa’s cinematic wont, the complete package suffers from overly leaden pacing that could easily have been cleaned up through a couple more passes in the editing suite.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
