Another Hole in the Head Film Festival Coverage
Creep Box review.
Creep Box has some dark but intriguing ideas. The more it focuses on them…the more it succeeds.
Festival movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Creep Box
Directed by Patrick Biesemans
Written by Patrick Biesemans
Starring Geoffrey Cantor, Guillermo Contreras, Dan Cordle, Jamie Jackson, Katie Kuang, Annemarie Lawless and Ian Lithgow
Creep Box Review
We wrap up our coverage of the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival with Creep Box. An intriguing premise and a strong lead performance deliver something unique. Creep Box is at its best when it focuses on its central concept…but it leaves little room for any fun. In its finest moments you’ll be too consumed to notice. In its slowest ones you’ll wish it had included some lighthearted thrills. Thankfully, the movie is interesting often enough to overcome its dourer moments.
Dr. Franklin Caul (Geoffrey Cantor) has invented something incredible. A technology that can simulate human consciousness. This isn’t just a random AI that can replicate generic human thoughts…it can recreate the specific minds of a deceased subject. It replicates the mind so completely that a person can be easily fooled that they’re having a conversation with their loved one. Memories, thoughts, emotions…Caul’s box can bring them all back to life. Artificially. Or so he believes.
Creep Box is a movie about grief. Caul visits with multiple people in mourning to test out his technology. Obviously talking to the simulated mind of a lost loved one isn’t going to be a barrel of laughs…but it is a fascinating exercise. The movie takes its time building up to its most interesting idea…and that leaves a lot of somber scenes and a downer tone. Cantor gives a terrific performance as the inventor who becomes increasingly unsure of what he’s invented. While no one cracks so much as a smile throughout Creep Box, Cantor’s steady hand guides it through some slow patches.
Things get even more interesting when Caul begins discussing things with Adam (Adam David Thompson). Adam isn’t a colleague or a friend to confide in…it’s a simulation of a client named Sylvia (Katie Kuang). The real Adam committed suicide…his simulated consciousness should degenerate in the program like all the others. But it doesn’t. Caul is driven a bit mad trying to discover why. Their conversations are the highlight of Creep Box.
You wouldn’t think that a series of discussions with a simulated consciousness could be as exciting and unexpected as it is here. It’s a credit to Cantor and Thompson that this aspect of Creep Box doesn’t just work…it excels. Caul has his personal reasons for discovering the truth of his invention. He’s lost someone too. It’s why he spends so much time adamantly telling clients that this is simply a simulation. They aren’t really talking to their loved ones. Adam’s seeming existence changes everything. Rarely for the better.
Creep Box handles two major stories. The grief of those left behind…and the truth about Caul’s invention. It ties them together beautifully in the end. When it is focused on the former…it can be a bit of a rough go. Spending time with a grieving woman who has lost her husband and child isn’t exactly a good time. The latter, however, is incredibly effective. It raises questions and philosophical discussions that make up the true highlights of Creep Box.
All roads lead back to Caul. His journey of discovery leads to some expectedly dark places. Whether his magic box is helping or hurting the people it interacts with matters to him less and less. It takes a backseat to his drive to discover what is inside of it. Clients swear they are talking to the person they remember. Caul insists it is a simulation. Adam has his own thoughts on the matter. Thoughts that begin to infiltrate Caul’s mind…driving him closer to the darkness.
Tech horror isn’t a new concept. Creep Box makes it feel like it is. While much of the story is slow and dark…it often raises itself to high levels of intrigue. Geoffrey Cantor grounds the early parts of the story…then allows himself to become consumed by it. It’s a great lead performance…and a difficult one. At times pragmatic…at times a quiet observer…always obsessed. Even with a well-executed concept to play with…this is Cantor’s movie. One that leads to an exciting finish. One worth watching.
Scare Value
Creep Box has a great premise. It spends a lot of time seemingly unsure of what to do with it…but eventually puts things together. The result is an interesting movie with a few too many slow spots. The philosophical discussions are a highlight…as is its commitment to a somber tone. Death is no joke here. Not to those that live with it…or to those who experience it. Of course, a laugh or two wouldn’t have killed anyone.
