The Creeper (1948)

Don't expect to see cat people or people turning to a cat then killing others because it's not really like that. This one tries to be more of a sci-fi film noir rather than a sci-fi horror.The idea behind the film is good, there are some alright scenes but not what one would expect from a "horror" film like this. It does get suspenseful at times however. And the ending was a huge let down, not at all what audiences that would watch this type of film would care to see.Onslow Stevens made this film better than what it really is with his presence. He is fun to watch in horror films usually.Overall it's a let down film that has a few good moments within it.3.5/10

Cat's are uncanny creatures, what with their vertical pupils and all that sneaking around. It's no wonder they were thought to be witches' familiars.The eponymous creeper here is the name of a black cat that's kept as a pet in the laboratories of -- well, some organization that uses cats as experimental animals. The labs are supposed to be developing phosphorescence for humans. It must make them glow in the dark, and it's strongly opposed by the flashlight lobby who claim it causes mental retardation.The central figure is Janis Wilson, a kind of executive secretary, who has only recently recovered from a fever that's left her kind of cockeyed. She has dreams of cats. Cats chase her, they try to crawl through her window. And one night her Daddy is clawed to death. Wilson is found unconscious nearby with Dad's blood on her hands and under her fingernails. That is, we are asked to believe that Dad just stood there and allowed himself to be shredded by the unexceptional nails of his diminutive, whey-faced daughter.I was keen enough to doubt it at once. In fact, I also disregarded Eduardo Cianelli as a suspect, another white coated scientist in the lab, because he frowns all the time, he's too taciturn, grumpy, and sinister looking. My suspicions after the first twenty minutes turned to a woman scientist, June Vincent, and for excellent reasons -- she seems interested in the handsome boyfriend of Wilson's, and because she reminded me of my fourth ex wife. No, there was no doubt in my mind.By the half-way point it's a rather ordinary B-level murder mystery. I guess there are certain echoes of Val Lewton's work at RKO. The lighting isn't put to such adventurous use and the effects are pedestrian, but the cat theme that pervades the story is certainly from "The Cat People." The performances are perfunctory and, alas, the woman at the center of it all is one of the weaker actors. She gives good scream though. Onslow Stevens is the young man. He has a voice made for radio.This is one of those movies in which all the PhDs address each other as "doctor." But PhDs always put such formalities behind them. Nobody calls Tom Wolf Dr. Wolf, although he has a PhD in American Studies from Yale. Plain Rachel Maddow has a D.Phil. from Oxford. Plain Bill Cosby has a PhD from Temple. The man from Uncle has a PhD from USC.And this is some laboratory these doctors work in. At night, the lab is dark except for a desk lamp that casts spooky shadows around and turns faces into Halloween masks.As it turns out, I was wrong in pinning the murder on the jealous woman. It's unusual because I've only been wrong once before in my life. That was when I thought I was wrong but I'd been right all along. At any rate, I don't see how this could usefully be compared to Val Lewton's work. His movies were tiny near-masterpieces, while this one lacks any poetry at all.

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.