Big cities always seem to be ground zero for big problems, Tokyo, Washington D.C, Las Vegas and New York have all seen their fair share of monsters and aliens—which is why I always liked the TV Show INVASION because I would like to think an alien attack would start somewhere less populated and then spread out from there. In the short film CREEPERS this time the illegal aliens in Los Angeles are way worse then someone looking for a job and some money to send back home. These aliens are taking over your body and turning the human race into cannibal maniacs.

CREEPERS shares a lot of lore with everything from Zach Snyder’s DAWN OF THE DEAD to John Carpenter’s THE THING and even the recent film THE SIGNAL. It asks the burning question “when the world ends…who can you trust” the answer comes from a pair of survivors holed up inside an abandoned house. The bulk of the production takes place behind closed doors and the pair passes their time waiting for rescue and growing increasingly paranoid of each other in the process. The film clocks in at less than 20 minutes and it explodes out of the gate with some intense hand-held camera work as the audience is taken on a whirlwind tour of the carnage occurring on the sunny Southern California streetscapes. Unfortunately, once the film gets to the meat of the story, all the action stops for what should have been a slow-build section of increasing anxiety. Instead of stepping up with the drama, the film fizzles from some strange pacing and the feeling that there is just not enough time to really tell these peoples story. It’s a shame because somewhere in there it seems like there is a solid story to tell—evidenced by the recent L.A.-based disaster film RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR, we can see the compelling nature of the unknown—it’s just all wasted in what turns out to be a great opening sequence followed by a film that’s lost its soul.