Found footage has been one of horror’s most polarizing and inscrutable genres ever since its debut. It’s a style of storytelling that’s incomparable when it works and disastrous when it falls flat. Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice’s Creep franchise didn’t reinvent found footage, but it’s evolved into a passionate labor of love that’s interested in stretching the genre’s definition and experimenting with its elasticity. It’s a franchise that’s boldly evolved, and The Creep Tapes’ previous seasons have successfully subverted found footage and unreliable narrator tropes to great effect.
This season sometimes struggles to articulate its points and can feel like more of the same. However, it provides a deeper dive into Peachfuzz’s character, which may be enough for some audiences. Season three is a mixed bag, but it still works hard to exceed expectations, push boundaries, and leave its comfort zone through more frightening character-driven found footage experiments.
Season two innovatively riffed on found footage’s many different styles, while this season is more interested in character archetypes and the act of connection. These constantly disarming performances leave each episode’s subject – and the audience – feeling incredibly vulnerable. The series explores these perpetual exercises in control and privilege as characters engage in tugs of war over authority and are left to litigate who really has the power in these sordid situations. Peachfuzz casually declares that “we contain multitudes” in the season’s premiere, which strongly resonates in each episode.
These new episodes explore how Peachfuzz’s killings are all repeated attempts to genuinely, truly connect with another human being, even if that’s by steeping his own backstory in lies, deception, and a creepy equivalent to kabuki theater. There’s some muddled commentary on the creative pursuit of being an artist and the grueling process of tirelessly pouring yourself into thankless work and how this artistic pursuit can change you.
Certain episodes do admittedly feel like they run out of steam and abruptly conclude in ways that some may consider to be underwhelming. That being said, it’s important to understand that The Creep Tapes is not about the kills, as gory and grandiose as they may be; it’s about human connection.
This season bombards the audience with some of Peachfuzz’s most wild and ridiculous character archetypes yet. This includes a Tommy Lee-esque rock star who is desperate for notoriety through a viral sex tape, an enigmatic billionaire who is eager to unload a confession that doubles as a budding journalist’s big scoop, and a voyeur living in a listless shut-in’s walls. These contrasting performances are all over the map in attempts to obfuscate Peachfuzz’s truth. However, they’re all connected by a desperate need for relevancy and a compulsion to not be forgotten that’s been present in this franchise since its very start.
It’s a message that’s crucial to Peachfuzz’s legacy as a prolific serial killer, but one can’t help but feel this quest for relevance extends to the broader found footage genre as a whole. It’s a style of storytelling that’s never completely disappeared, but often feels like it’s one foot out the door and constantly at the risk of being disregarded. The Creep Tapes’ third season makes a strong case for why this genre is still meaningful and a valuable way to tell horror stories.
A lot of this season sticks to stripped-down, minimalist filmmaking that frequently utilizes a bottle episode-like framework. There are still opportunities for these episodes to go bigger and take some risks. There’s a particularly tense stalker story that sets Peachfuzz loose in New York City. There’s also a formative flashback episode in 1994 that chronicles one of Peachfuzz’s earliest kills when he was just a teenager. This season also features the franchise’s most extreme and creative death to date that deserves credit for the sheer audacity of the spectacle.
This season also continues the tradition where one episode turns the camera onto Peachfuzz and attempts to unpack his own trauma and history. This season’s experiment is a one-man show from Duplass as Peachfuzz confronts and succumbs to his codependent demons. It doesn’t reach the same heights as the previous seasons’ glimpses into Peachfuzz’s dynamic with his mother and sister, but it’s still very rewarding and a real highlight of the season that helps demystify this increasingly interesting monster.
Season three still retains the dark humor that’s always been baked into the franchise, which may work better for some than others. This heightened behavior and inappropriate sense of humor fit into Peachfuzz’s pursuit of throwing off and destabilizing his would-be victims so that they can’t tell where the truth lies and the performance ends.
The Creep Tapes is a series that lives and dies based on its guest stars. This season features some impressive and eclectic talent that includes Kate Siegel, James Earl, Chris Gethard, Rekha Shankar, It: Welcome to Derry’s Nicholas Hamilton, Terrifier 2 and 3’s Elliot Fulham, and Mark Duplass’ own daughter, Ora Duplass. Patrick Brice continues to handle all the directing duties and has only grown more confident in cultivating this franchise’s avant-garde voice. However, at this point it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring in some fresh blood.
Like before, six episodes is the perfect length for this season so that Peachfuzz’s continuous kills don’t feel repetitive, formulaic, or blur together. It’s just enough time for The Creep Tapes to approach its central idea from complementary angles and still wrap things up so that the audience is left wanting more, rather than being exhausted by Peachfuzz’s schtick.
The Creep Tapes still has lots to say and plenty of tricks up its sleeve. That being said, this is the first time that the bloom is starting to come off the rose. While a very strong continuation of this concept and character, these are arguably the weakest batch of episodes from The Creep Tapes’ three-season run. This doesn’t mean that a season four would have even greater diminishing returns. However, it’ll need to bring something different to the equation.
As Peachfuzz would say, “You’ve just got to trust the creative process,” even if it makes a bloody mess. It at least helps keep the wolves at the door.
The Creep Tapes premieres September 15 on Shudder, with back-to-back episodes airing weekly.
