There’s a masterclass sequence in Creepy (2016) that shows off Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s command with visually increasing uneasiness. A retired detective now a college professor Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima from Drive My Car) is working with his former partner Nogami (Masahiro Higashide) on a cold case, a missing family who disappeared five years ago. Within the university building, Takakura interviews the remaining family member, Saki (Haruna Kawaguchi) and the sequence begins in the clear afternoon, light coming in through the glass windows where we can see the students congregate in the square outside. As Saki talks about the events that led up to her family’s disappearance, recalling memories that she hasn’t spoken about with the authorities, and the light gradually dims, lighting Saki’s face in the growing darkness. As Saki stands up and Takakura asks more questions, the camera moves with them, and we see extras in the background leaving the frame; first, it’s people in the building leaving for the day, stepping outside, and then when we see the same square outside, all of the students start to leave. All of this contributes to the increasing eeriness of the scene, and the way in which people are there, and then they’re not.
Based on a novel by Yutaka Maekawa, Creepy follows familiar territory to Kiyoshi’s previous investigative procedurals like Cure or Retribution. After a violent altercation with a captured killer, Takakura has retired from the force and a few years later, has moved to a new town with his wife Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi). As Takakura teaches his class about psychologically profiling serial killers, he is drawn into investigating this cold case. At home, his growing absorption is offset by Yasuko’s attempts to ingratiate herself with their neighbours. One in particular, Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa from Serpent’s Path and Tokyo Sonata), seems off-putting, striking a strange air in their interactions.
Creepy is stronger in the first half, as Kiyoshi builds tension from the social awkwardness of having a weird guy as a neighbour, and the ways in which the two plot strands will potentially intersect. The suburban spaces of a house and a street are imbued with silence and stillness. Flickers of movement are held onto within the frame. Wind blowing through the bushes outside Nishino’s house, or the billowing tarp of unfinished construction in his front yard. As the narrative reveals its hand, the mystery is dispelled a bit, somewhat like the last episode of True Detective Season 1, how much anxious pleasure is in the unknown rather than further serial killer movie cliches. I still felt tense watching Creepy, particularly dreading that all of this was headed to a feel-bad place. Overall, a satisfying thriller with observations on social alienation and uneasy spaces. Nishijimi and Kagawa are particularly strong, and their contrasting presences, Nishijima’s friendly righteousness and Kagawa’s continually shifting personality. Recommended.
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