Creepy is an apt name for this suspenseful thriller, although it’s not a horror as the title may suggest. Instead, it’s an atmospheric mind game that keeps the tension and uncertainty alarmingly high throughout.
Criminal psychologist Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is a former police detective who relocates with his wife Yasuko (Yûko Takeuchi) for a fresh start. In their new neighbourhood, the residents keep to themselves but when Yasuko befriends the creepy man next door, a six year old cold case investigation starts overlapping with their lives.
The neighbour, Masayuki Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa), at first appears to just be introverted and quirky. Then his teenage daughter, Saki (Haruna Kawaguchi), makes an unexpectedly confession and the film jettisons itself from the mystery genre into an even tenser thriller.
Creepy is almost two films in one, with the shocking twist unravelling the mystery and turning the tables on both the characters and the viewers. It never truly explains the villain’s power over people but it keeps you second-guessing about everyone’s fate until the final scene.
The screenplay was co-written by Chihiro Ikeda and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Running over 2 hours, it could be comfortably shorter but Kurosawa lets the plot slowly evolve, milking every creepy moment for all it’s worth.
The music by Yuri Habuka is an effective tool. He avoids sudden clangs of loud noise which so many films resort to. He lets the action play out to his disturbing soundscape instead, and that makes it all the more suspenseful.
Despite the unusually slow pace of Creepy, it is edgy and compelling with a number of shock twists along the way.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 8
Creepy will screen on 22 October only, as part of the 20th Japanese Film Festival, which runs 21-30 October 2016 exclusively at the Mercury Cinema. All films screen with English subtitles.
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