It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The Creeper is a 1948 "B" film produced by Bernard Small's Reliance Pictures. Its an entertaining little chiller clocking in at a brisk 64 minutes, with a cast of generally familiar faces such as Onslow Stevens, Ralph Morgan, Eduardo Ciannelli, and June Vincent.Romantic lead John Baragrey would go on to have a successful career as a character actor in television. The female lead was eighteen year old Janis Wilson, who as a juvenile actress had featured roles in Now Voyager, Watch on the Rhine, and the Strange Love of Martha Ivers, among other films and seemed to be building a solid acting resume for herself. The Creeper would be her last film role,however, and she would retire from the screen to take up marriage and teaching music. Director Jean Yarbrough had a reputation for dependability and getting a film out on time and under budget. Ben Pivar was the executive producer. He was in charge of Universal Studios Horror Unit during the war on could do this kind of film in his sleep. The horror cycle had slowed down considerably since the end of the war but there was still a market for Saturday matinée scary pictures at the local neighborhood Bijou and the Creeper was made to fill that market. It helped sell a bunch of popcorn The story concerns a monster who preys on a group of scientists and researchers whom themselves are trying to develop a mysterious serum that is derived from the body fluids of cats. One of the researchers tries to put a halt to the project for ethical concerns and is brutally murdered. After that other researchers are being killed by what evidence suggests is a huge cat like creature. The daughter of one of the murdered scientists acted as secretary to the project and holds the notes that are needed to continue the project but will not give them up. A young scientist from a next door lab has fallen for her and he is aware of the events taking place. He tries to aide and protect her at the risk of his own life. At the climax of the film the identity of the murderous monster is revealed and it is destroyed. Of course the young couple appear to move on to become the Cleaver family. The Creeper was filmed by Edward Coleman. Coleman and Yarbrough used The "Cat People approach to shooting the Creeper with shadows and dim lighting to cover the cheap sets and minimal special effects This technique works and gives the film a dark and brooding atmosphere. That veteran actors know the rote and do what they can with a weak script and sometimes confusing plot line. What does not work is Janis Wilson's performance. She is , quite frankly, terrible. Without Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck around to coach her she chews the scenery and emotes like a high school Juliet. If the Creeper had been a longer picture she would have shot the whole thing down. It's no wonder she decided to get out of the business.As I said, The Creeper is entertaining and won't cause emotional damage to the more sensitive members of your viewing audience, however, if your are in The Ginger Snaps or Dog Solders school of were-animal appreciation, The Creeper isn't gonna do it for you. Saying that . however, for the average old horror flick fan there are a lot worse ways to spend an hour.

Although the film's director and actor Onslow Stevens have done similar work for Universal, this film is more reminiscient of Val Lewton's horror thrillers for RKO. The film title itself refers to a black cat and many of the key scenes take place in dark, shadowy environments. Also, like Lewton, you don't see the monster until the very end. Interestingly, CREEPER features dream sequences that reminds me of RKO's noir films. CREEPER is from 20th Century-Fox. However, the story is typical of mid-40s Universal horror flicks while the mood is characteristic of Lewton's CAT PEOPLE films.

The Creeper is The Best Old Horror Movie that I can Think of. It is Perfect. I even Believe it Inspired Classics such as "The Fly". Of Course, the Movie is Rather Old and the Special Effects are not Something to brag about. But, All in All we Have a Classic Horror Movie which I Think should be More Famous than it is. 10 out of 10. Also Recommended: Return of the Fly.

Note: This contains a *SPOILER*!! This minor item comes from the late 1940's, a lull period in fantastic cinema. The golden age of horror films had ended in mid 1946 when studios (for a host of reasons) had pretty much stopped cranking out fantastic thrillers, and the science fiction boom of the 1950's, which began with the release of DESTINATION MOON in 1950, had not yet begun. Almost all of the sparse handful of fantastic thrillers made during this period were minor items from minor studios. THE CREEPER is no exception. THE CREEPER is about mad scientist who experiments with serum derived from cats that turns him into cat like killer (a werecat?). The film opens well, with a rather atmospheric opening. However, only after a few minutes the film sinks to the perfunctory. Despite the visually interesting opening sequence the film looks dull and flat. Onslow Stevens laboratory is just a desk and table with a few beakers and test tubes. The lab for the rival scientists down the hall is even more drab looking. Most scenes begin or open with people leaving or entering rooms. As far as the story goes, I knew right from the beginning that Eduardo Ciannelli was not the killer but a red herring. I suspect the makers of this film realized there was still an audience for these kinds of thrills and since almost nobody else was making this kind of film, they figured they could make a film that just had to be "good enough". Audiences who went for this kind of stuff were not being catered to, so they were willing to sit through even a perfunctory thriller such as this.