View source for Creep (2004 film)


{{about|the 2004 British-German movie|the 2014 American movie|Creep (2014 film)}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Creep
| image          = Creep (2004 film) poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Christopher Smith (director)|Christopher Smith]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* Julie Baines
* Jason Newmark<ref name="filmportal">{{cite web|url=http://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/creep_ee07ac822ce4bc4ae03053d50b3715a6|publisher=[[Filmportal.de]]|title=Creep|accessdate=March 9, 2016}}</ref>
}}
| screenplay        = Christopher Smith
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Franka Potente]]
* [[Ken Campbell (actor)|Ken Campbell]]
* [[Vas Blackwood]]
* [[Jeremy Sheffield]]
* [[Sean Harris]]
}}
| music          = The Insects
| cinematography = [[Danny Cohen (cinematographer)|Danny Cohen]]
| editing        = Kate Evans
| production_companies = {{Plainlist|
* Dan Films
* Zero West<ref name="filmportal" />
}}
| distributor    = {{Plainlist|
* [[Pathé]] (United Kingdom)
* [[X Filme Creative Pool|X Verleih AG]]<ref name="filmportal" /> (through [[Warner Bros. Pictures |Warner Bros.]]; Germany)
}}
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|2004|8|10|Frankfurt Fantasy Filmfest|2005|1|28|United Kingdom|2005|3|10|Germany}}
| runtime        = 85 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 85:05--><ref>{{cite web | url=http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/creep-2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713125554/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/creep-2004 | url-status=dead | archive-date=13 July 2015 | title=''CREEP'' (18) | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=12 August 2004 | accessdate=12 July 2015}}</ref>
| country        = {{Plainlist|
* United Kingdom
* Germany<ref name="filmportal" />
}}
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = [[Pound sterling|£]]1.7 million
}}
'''''Creep''''' is a 2004 [[horror film]] written and directed by British filmmaker [[Christopher Smith (director)|Christopher Smith]]. The film follows a woman locked in the [[London Underground]] overnight. She later finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below. The film was first shown at the Frankfurt Fantasy Film festival in Germany on 10 August 2004.

==Plot==
Arthur and George are London sewage workers who discover a tunnel in one of the walls. Arthur starts exploring the tunnel alone, while newbie George stays behind. After a while, George enters and discovers Arthur, injured and in shock. A similarly injured woman jumps out, crying for help, only to be pulled back into the darkness.

A young German woman, Kate, decides to join her friend at a party and heads to [[Charing Cross tube station|Charing Cross Underground station]] but falls asleep on the platform while waiting for the train. When she awakens, she is alone, and the entire station has been locked up for the night. An empty train arrives, and she boards it; it abruptly stops and the lights go dark. She meets Guy, a coworker who follows her and whose awkward advances she repeatedly rejects. Guy attempts to rape her, only to be stopped by an unseen aggressor who drags him out of the train. Guy briefly reemerges, covered in blood, warning Kate to run.

Kate flees and runs into a homeless couple living in a storeroom, Jimmy and Mandy, and their dog Ray. Jimmy reluctantly agrees to help her by taking her to the night guard after she pays him. They find Guy, horribly maimed but still alive. Mandy, left alone, is attacked and kidnapped, triggering Jimmy's sorrow-fueled escape into a heroin-induced stupor. Kate manages to communicate with the security guard via intercom, but the guard is killed before he can call for help, while Guy dies of his injuries. Kate and Jimmy decide to walk through the tunnel to the next station. A train stops near them; Jimmy decides to face the killer to avenge Mandy, but he is slaughtered as well.

Fleeing, Kate falls into the sewer system below, where she finds Arthur's body. She also finds a storage facility with hundreds of boxes, where she is captured by the killer, the titular "creep"—a hideously deformed, mentally ill [[hermit]] named Craig, who keeps his victims in semi-submerged, rat-infested cages until they are dead, after which he eats them. Kate is put in one of these cages, along with George, the sewage worker. They escape and end up in an abandoned medical facility, where they find an unconscious Mandy strapped to a surgical chair. Thinking she is dead, they move on. Craig appears, puts on a surgical gown, and mimics the gestures of a surgeon in front of a terrorized Mandy before he disembowels her with a bone saw.

Kate and George find the disused railcar where Craig lives. The dog, Ray, is there, along with old pictures of a medical doctor with a deformed child. Craig ambushes them and kills George. In a last, desperate effort, Kate sinks a hook and chain into Craig's throat, then has a running train rip it apart, and Craig bleeds to death. Disheveled, she returns to the initial station, by which point it is morning. She collapses on the platform, and Ray curls onto her lap. Mistaking her for a beggar, a man waiting for the train leaves her a coin, and Kate breaks into hysterical giggles and tears.

==Cast==
* [[Franka Potente]] as Kate
* [[Vas Blackwood]] as George
* [[Ken Campbell]] as Arthur
* [[Jeremy Sheffield]] as Guy
* Paul Rattray as Jimmy
* Kelly Scott as Mandy
* [[Joe Anderson (actor)|Joe Anderson]] as male model
* [[Sean Harris]] as Craig, the "Creep"
* Morgan Jones as the Night Watchman

==Production==
{{expand section|date=April 2015}}
The storyline has been compared to the 1972 film ''[[Death Line]]'', also set on the London Underground and featuring a [[Human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] killer. Director Smith, who had not seen ''Death Line'', attributes his inspiration to a scene in ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'' set in the London Underground.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/01/20/chris_smith_creep_interview.shtml |title=BBC – Movies – interview – Chris Smith |last=Hennigan |first=Adrian |date=February 2005 |work=[[BBC Online|bbc.co.uk]] |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref>

==Reception==

===Critical response===
{{expand section|date=April 2015}}
''Creep'' has received generally mixed reviews from critics. {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|44|4.3|16|ref=yes|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}

''[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]]'' gave the film a negative review, writing, "this London Underground-set slasher squanders a promising premise for trashy shocks, old-school nastiness and a fistful of genre clichés."<ref>{{cite journal |date=26 January 2005 |journal=[[Time Out London]] |title=<nowiki>[</nowiki>''Creep'' review<nowiki>]</nowiki> |issue=1797 |url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/81562/Creep.html |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref>

All Movie's review was favorable, writing, "this pared-down shocker might be light on plot, but it's packed with creepy frights and psychopathic attitude from its mean main monster."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/creep-v306117 |title=Creep (2004) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast – AllMovie |last=Buchanan |first=Jason |work=[[AllRovi|AllMovie]] |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref>

Matthew Turner of ''View London'' said "The performances are good, particularly Potente, who avoids scream queen clichés by making her character surprisingly unlikeable - Kate is rude and arrogant in her early scenes and the fact that she's German is, of course, a coincidence."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/creep-film-review-10510.html|title=Creep|last=Turner|first=Matthew|date=25 January 2005|website=ViewLondon|language=en|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701193547/http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/creep-film-review-10510.html|archive-date=1 July 2007}}</ref>

==Reboot==
In May 2025, Smith was reported to write and direct a reboot of the film, which starts production in fall 2025. Much of the original film's crew will return, while the cast will include [[Jasmine Jobson]], [[Aitch (rapper)|Aitch]], and [[Andy Nyman]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.screendaily.com/news/hanway-sets-creep-reboot-jasmine-jobson-rapper-aitch-to-star/5204559.article|title= HanWay sets ‘Creep’ reboot ‘The Creep’; Jasmine Jobson, rapper Aitch to star|date= May 6, 2025|access-date= October 23, 2025|first= Mona|last= Tabbara|work= Screen Daily}}</ref> [[Shudder (streaming service)|Shudder]] has acquired North American rights.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://deadline.com/2025/05/the-creep-jasmine-jobson-aitch-shudder-1236411458/|title= ‘The Creep’ Reboot Starring ‘Top Boy’ Actor Jasmine Jobson & UK Rapper Aitch Lands North American Distribution Via Shudder|date= May 27, 2025|access-date= October 23, 2025|work= Deadline Hollywood}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of London Underground-related fiction]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

{{Christopher Smith}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creep (2004 Film)}}
[[Category:2004 films]]
[[Category:2004 horror films]]
[[Category:2004 thriller films]]
[[Category:2004 British films]]
[[Category:2004 English-language films]]
[[Category:2004 German films]]
[[Category:2000s horror thriller films]]
[[Category:2000s monster movies]]
[[Category:2000s mystery horror films]]
[[Category:2000s mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:2000s serial killer films]]
[[Category:2000s slasher films]]
[[Category:British horror thriller films]]
[[Category:British monster movies]]
[[Category:British mystery horror films]]
[[Category:British mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:British serial killer films]]
[[Category:British slasher films]]
[[Category:English-language German films]]
[[Category:English-language horror thriller films]]
[[Category:Films about abortion in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Films about cannibalism]]
[[Category:Films about rape in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Films directed by Christopher Smith]]
[[Category:Films set on the London Underground]]
[[Category:Films shot in Cologne]]
[[Category:German horror thriller films]]
[[Category:German monster movies]]
[[Category:German mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:German serial killer films]]
[[Category:German slasher films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:English-language crime films]]
[[Category:English-language mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:X Verleih films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Creep (2004 film)|access_date=2026-03-01}}