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Filmmakers/writers Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass have been living in the immersive, unsettling world of Creep for over a decade. What began with 2014’s Creep, an intimate found footage feature built from a five-page outline, has evolved into The Creep Tapes. The just released third season expands that canvas, but Brice’s challenge remains deceptively simple: How do you make the mundane cinematic?
Read more: Patrick Brice Talks ‘The Creep Tapes’ Season 3 And Finding Cinema In The Mundane
“That is something that I am constantly thinking about,” said Patrick Brice, who directs the series and co-created it with Mark Duplass. Creep 2, directed by Brice (he co-wrote the script with Duplass) came out in 2017.
The filmmaker points to the upcoming Season 3 episode “Greg” as an example (it premieres September 29th). The story unfolds inside an intentionally nondescript apartment occupied by a solitary man who’s either watching TV or doom scrolling his smart phone. There isn’t much on the walls and the surroundings are purposely barebones (exceput for Peachfuzz, who’s hiding in the apartment!). For Brice, those limitations became an opportunity.
“I liked that challenge of saying, ‘Okay, this is like a truly blank canvas. How do I make this space feel dynamic in some way,’” said Brice, who also directed the features Corporate Retreat and The Overnight.
Part of the answer comes from staying true to the show’s characters. Instead of imposing a conventional cinematic style onto The Creep Tapes, Brice allows the characters’ decisions to dictate the respective episode’s visual language. Case in point is the frenetically shot New York episode “Mo,” which has Peachfuzz consistently ingratiating himself to the titular character.
“For me it’s really thinking about the visuals and thinking about the cinema of it all and how it works together,” Brice said.
Meanwhile, Duplass remains deep locked into his complex, serial killer character. More than a decade into their collaboration, Brice continues to be impressed by what his creative partner brings to the role.
“It’s amazing to be 12 years into this project and him just still completely blow me away with what he’s capable of in terms of performance from both an emotional and a technical standpoint,” Brice said.
Brice recalled that the original Creep was made from a five-page outline without dialogue. He and Duplass improvised the movie and spent roughly a year shaping the feature through additional shooting and editing. Since then, things have evolved in the Creep universe. “We’re definitely allowing ourselves to deviate from the dialogue and sometimes alter the scenarios and what’s happening based on what we’ve already shot because we do shoot these episodes in continuity,” Brice said.
Along with the varied and first rate storytelling in Season Three, The Creep Tapes‘ visual language is its most underrated aspect. ”It was funny ’cause while we were making the first Creep. It was a nuisance to me because I loved the idea of making beautiful composed shots and working with the lighting and DP (director of photography) to craft cinema,” said Brice. “I’ve been able to do that on a few projects. But Creep was one where it was really entirely reliant on me and Mark’s shoulders. Mark is usually having to act, so it’s really on me thinking about that element into the project. It’s something that’s super important to me.”
***Full interview with Patrick Brice:
What do you think so far of The Creep Tapes season three? Share your thoughts in the comments. The Creep Tapes is now streaming on Shudder and AMC+!
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