CREEP

London, midnight, on a cold evening. Unable to find a taxi, Kate heads for the Underground. To avoid the queue of late-night revelers at the booth, she buys a ticket from a homeless girl and descends to the platform. Before long she drifts off to sleep. She wakes to find everyone gone. Kate momentarily panics until another train pulls in. She boards, unnerved that she’s the only passenger, but relieved to be on her way at last. Halfway through the tunnel, the train jerks to a violent halt. The lights shut off and the train is plunged into darkness. Kate screams. She is trapped in the dark and she’s not alone. Caught in a maze of catacombs and forgotten passageways, Kate must find a way to survive the night. Creep starts out at a comfortable, bright pace, but first-time director Christopher Smith very quickly snips away at our personal safety net until we are submerged in a claustrophobic black pit. Shooting in an abandoned subway tunnel, Smith plays with tactile and realistic surroundings, adding a texture to the threat of darkness that lurks in the rotten underbelly of the metropolis. Fans of Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, Anatomy, The Bourne Supremacy) will be pleased to see her in the part of an ordinary working girl thrust into hostile and terrifying circumstances.