Creeper

(1977) **1/2

“… a lot of careful hatred has gone into this”

On their annual get-away-from-it-all outing, five middle-aged, nerdy doctors head deep into the Canadian wilderness to a place called The Cauldron of the Moon for some much-needed R&R. After a night of drunken stupidness, the gang wakes up to find that all of their boots have been taken. Lucky for them one anal-retentive doctor brought an extra pair and he sets off to look for help (“Didn’t you get the Xerox memo, I told you all to bring extra shoes!” he cries in a know-it-all kind of way). Soon after he leaves, however, weird things begin to occur, such as a decapitated deer head appearing just outside their camp circle. Despite their lack of shoes the group all agree that their best bet is to follow the trail of their friend who is off seeking help. As is always the case in these kinds of situations, social order quickly breaks down and the men begin bickering and ultimately fighting as one by one they are struck down by an unknown menace. The deaths range from the mundane (e.g., a huge-ass beehive is dropped on one of the guys) to more gruesome (see next picture).

Who or what is stalking them and why? Although these questions are ultimately answered, I had to re-watch a few scenes of earlier dialogue that initially appeared unimportant. Creeper was fun and better than it should have been given its obvious rip-off of the then popular Deliverance. Hal Holbrook lends credibility and adds some dimension to an otherwise cardboard character. The five doctors are so similar it was difficult to tell them apart. There’s something about this film that I enjoyed but I can’t quite place my finger on it. The little research I conducted on it suggests that it has a small cult following so perhaps I’m onto something. More importantly though, this is also the same year that this poster came out,