My notes on The Creeping (2022)
Directed by Jamie Hooper, who also co-wrote with Helen Miles, The Creeping is a low-key, slow-building, mostly effective British ghost story … but it turns on two subjects (one is caring for an elder with dementia, the other is revealed late in the film) that have been yoked to horror tales quite often in recent years. It’s a solid, well-acted little film, but familiarity rather dissipates its spookiness while straining a bit to be ‘about’ something. It opens very well with a father (Jonathan Nyati – who unfortunately isn’t in enough of the film) telling a bedtime story to young Anna (Tailyah Blair) ostensibly to help her cope with night terrors but perhaps seeding a fright she’ll carry into adulthood. Then, some years later (‘Somerset, 1985’ – though without accents, as usual), Anna (Riann Steele) moves into a nice old home to look after her grandmother Lucy (Jane Lowe), who seldom remembers that her husband, daughter and son-in-law have all died and Anna is her only living relative. Which doesn’t mean they’re alone in the house as Anna begins to perceive ghostliness – including the very traditional ominous sheet figure – as she scratches at her own repressed memories as well as Lucy’s confusions to work out how things got to this state. Eventually, the house turns up a ghost – augmented by CGI, practically a monster – but there’s a lot of family drama to get through. Steele – Nefertiti on Doctor Who and Egghead’s wife in the MCU – is a big talent, and gets a showcase here as Anna keeps feeling compelled to explore the house after dark.
Here’s the FrightFest listing.
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