With an affinity for improv and offbeat characters, Jay andMark Duplasshave embraced the indie movie and TV landscape since the founding of their independent production company, Duplass Brothers Productions, in 1996. Often associated with thelow-budget mumblecore movementof the early-2000s, offering movies likeThe Puffy ChairandCyrus, the filmmaking duo has certainly experimented with genres over the past three decades. Notably, Mark Duplass — who’s in front of the camera as often as he is behind it —creepedhis way into the hearts of horror aficionados back in 2014 with Netflix’s hit found footage filmCreep. (He was also in 2015’sThe Lazarus Effect, but we don’t talk about that.)
Directed by Patrick Brice and produced by Duplass Brothers Productions and Blumhouse Productions,Creepfollows a freelance videographer, Aaron — played by Brice himself — who answers a bizarre online ad from a man named Josef, played by Mark Duplass. Claiming to have terminal cancer, Josef wishes to make a documentary film for his unborn child. Willing to earn $1,000 for a day of filming, Aaron travels to the eccentric stranger’s remote “family vacation home,” unaware of Josef’s erratic nature and sinister intentions.
The highly improvised film — which was born from afive-page outline that Duplass and Brice wrote together— was a hit, earning 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also starring Mark Duplass as the uncomfortable serial killer once known as Josef (he renamed himself Aaron after slicing and dicing Brice’s character in the first film),Creep 2was released in 2017, earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% with 29 reviews. Clearly, the franchise clicks with found footage fans as well as fans of the oddball Duplass cinematic universe, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when a thirdCreepproject was announced. Mark Duplass posted an ominous Instagram video of himself in the infamous “Peachfuzz” wolf mask in June 2024, getting fans hyped for a potentialCreep 3.
However, some were puzzled upon finding out this was actually an announcement forThe Creep Tapes. Premiering on Shudder and AMC+ on Aug 21, 2025,The Creep Tapesis a half-hour series that introduces fans to more victims of the zany killer known as Peachfuzz. For the sake of the belovedhorror-comedy franchise’s legacy, was releasingThe Creep Tapesa good or bad idea? AreCreepdiehards satisfied? Well, it’s complicated.
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“The series is based on a collection of video tapes in the secret vault of the world’s deadliest and most socially uncomfortableserial killer, who hires his victims to film him for the day under false pretenses,” Mark Duplass explained in an announcement, as perIndieWire. “Each episode exposes a new victim from one of the fabled ‘Creep Tapes.'”
Whether Duplass’ compulsive liar killer is posing as an acting student seeking help with an audition tape or a priest providing commentary for a man’s web series, weirdness is to be expected inThe Creep Tapes. And while the formula is relatively similar to that of the films — Peachfuzz luring and/or tricking an innocent filmmaker into his murder plot — fun surprises are in store. That being said, perhaps the effective slow burn nature of the films can’t fit into a singular TV episode. For Duplass' socially unpredictable killer to build a rapport with a cautious individualandviolently kill them within 25 minutes is challenging, which is why some feelThe Creep Tapesis missing something.
“With its short format, it felt less evolved than the films — like a step further away from a structured story,” YouTuber and Tomatometer-approved criticEmma Wolfe said in a November 2024 video reviewofThe Creep Tapes. “It felt like a web series that was more inspired by the moments of the movies that we love,” she continues. Additionally, Wolfe recalls missing the awkward silences that add to the blisfully unsettling tension in the first two feature-lengthCreepfilms. Unfortunately, the short runtime of each episode is a common disappointment, withVarietywriter Aramide Tinubu saying “the rapidly-paced episodes lack the predatory undertone that makes the movies so unnerving” and thatThe Creep Tapesis more so “a disjointed vanity project than a horror story spotlighting a homicidal maniac’s bloodlust.” Yikes.
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Aside from the rushed feeling ofThe Creep Tapes, it ironically offers too much in some ways. While Episode 1, for instance, tells a similar story to the original film — Duplass' killer taking on a false identity and hiring a videographer desperate for cash — Episode 6 gives the audience more lore about Peachfuzz’s backstory. Without spoiling the Oedipus complex-filled tale, thinkNorman Bates mommy issues. The sixth and final episode arguably goes against what audiences expect from theCreepfranchise, feeding viewers tiny bits of a real backstory for Peachfuzz. Perhaps viewers were never supposed to know who this terrifying man is and why he has an undying hunger for murder. A sliver of mystery has been taken away fromCreep.
Here’s Why ‘Creep’ Fans May Want to Hold Their Breath for a ‘Creep 3’ Film
Of course, with a 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes,The Creep Tapesisn’t a failure. (No, that statement isn’t only to keep an axe-wielding Mark Duplass away from horror snob skulls.) As for whetherThe Creep Tapeswas a “good” or “bad” idea, it really depends on the viewer. ForCreepstans who’ve missed seeing Duplass shine as this preposterous movie-loving madman (The Creep Tapesfeatures fun references to films likeMisery,Forrest Gump, and9½ Weeks), anyCreepvariant could’ve been seen as a good idea. For highly critical horror fans,The Creep Tapesas it is may not be enough to satisfy the difficult hunt for inventive found footage with bite. Regardless, the mere existence ofThe Creep Tapesin November 2024 —a decade after the original film — has viewers wondering ifCreep 3is still on the table.
“If I’ve learned anything with this — dare I say — franchise, it’s never say never,” Mark Duplass toldFangoriain November 2024. Though Duplass said some ideas they toyed with for a potentialCreep 3"felt unsustainable for 90 minutes," he’s choosing to stay optimistic.
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“I could see us making a hundred more episodes of this, for sure. I could also see us stumbling on an idea where we feel like, ‘Oh we’re gonna need more time to do this correctly, and make aCreep 3out of that.’ … Who knows! We just love it and we’re gonna try and continue to do this for as long as we can,” he continued. MayCreeplive on for years to come.
