The Creeper (1948)

Load of rubbish!!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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

Throughout much of this film, I was very impressed by the atmosphere created by the director and his crew. Through the use of music, lighting and acting, they really had a tense and nice looking film-- and it kept my interest. However, when the film ended, I was left frustrated because all this suspense led up to absolutely nothing that would satisfying the audience...NOTHING!The film is set around a lab in which a team of workers are trying to come up with some serum to make human organs bioluminous. Why? I have no idea. In the midst of this, the lead researcher's daughter, Nora, is a hysterical mess who screams every time she sees cats. And, when folks start dying you expect that somehow some cat or that particular cat is behind it. Well, this is NOT the case and the ending is just plain stupid--a bit waste of a lot of talent, though Nora was an awfully written and acted character. Too bad that a couple problems completely ruin an otherwise good B horror film.

****SPOILERS**** Heavily influenced by the Val Lawton horror classics of the 1940's "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie" the film "The Creeper" has to do with it's title character a black cat with a white front left paw that seems to terrify Dr. Lester Cavigny's, Ralph Morgan, daughter Nora, Janis Wilson, every time it crosses her path. This stems from her experience back in the Caribbean where her father and his partner Dr. Borden,Oslow Stevens, were experimenting with stray cats. They were using the cats's to produce a serum that would illuminate human organs while being operated on. It's when Dr. Cavingy got second thoughts in completing the project that strange things started to happen to him and everyone involved in it.The cat "The Creeper" whom Nora was creep-ed out about seems to have supernatural powers in causing a number of deaths, with the help of his fellow felines, of those working for Dr. Borden who decided to drop out of his experiments. It was Dr. Bordon's co worker the tall dark and handsome Dr. John Read, John Baragrey, whom Nora was totally nuts about who smelled a rat in all this, Dr. Borden's experiments, and it wasn't the rats that he was experimenting with in the laboratory.***SPOILERS*** Were shown the killer being a giant cat, probably a lion tiger or leopard, in that he's shown, Val Lawton shadow style, only in shadow when he or it murders his victims. It's only at the very end that we see that it was the film's meager budget that only had enough money for its make-up department to depict the killer's hand or paw not his entire body that was totally human. With Nora about to be croaked or killed by the psycho killer it was handsome Dr. John Read whom Nora accidentally shot and thought that she killed who suddenly came to life gun in hand and ended up rescuing her from the "killer cat".

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.