CREEPY

クリーピー　偽りの隣人

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Masters / Japan / 2016 / Thriller / 130 mins / Japanese with English subtitles / DCP / West Coast Premiere

‹ ›

Watch Trailer

CREEPY

UltraStar Mission Valley
Sunday, November 6, 2016 8:25 pm

CREEPY

UltraStar Mission Valley
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 7:55 pm

Description

Official Selection, 2016 Berlin International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2016 Hong Kong International Film Festival

We’ve all gotten that bad feeling before. Interact with enough people in this world and someone ends up giving you the willies. But do you run away? Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s new serial killer yarn embodies this conundrum from the start. The title is meant to be a blatantly inadequate descriptor for the unclassifiable actions of someone who may simply be lacking in social graces, or might just be a murderer.

Disgraced detective Takura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and his wife Yasuko (Yûko Takeuchi) experience this very situation upon meeting their reclusive next-door neighbor Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa). He’s the epitome of a walking contradiction, one moment kind and effusive and the next an aggressive bully. When Takura begins investigating a cold case file involving a family’s disappearance, his prime suspect might be closer than he thinks.

With style and precision, Kurosawa (Pulse, Cure) tracks tormented characters through hallways, sometimes jumping ahead to anticipate their location. His use of experimental lighting also adds another psychological dimension to a warped modern world where being neighborly can get you killed. CREEPY is a devilish reminder that sinister forces are always close by. Just look out the window and wave. –Glenn Heath, Jr.