Creek
The Scots have a reputation for being tight with their money; what is more true to say is that they know the value of money and when necessary they are quite capable of spending as generously as their more affluent southern neighbours, but there are not many places in the world where you can get two two girls bumped off in the woods and still get change from four grand.
With finishing funds raised via Kickstarter to the modest sum of £3,915, short horror film Creek is writer/director Keith Robson’s attempt to tell a simple creature feature in the wilds of Scotland as a pair of unsuspecting dogwalkers (Nicolette McKeown and Stacey Helen Mitchell) and their eager pupper pal Oscar take a trip to the murky edge of the waters.
All the effects practical, Creek is reassuringly physical, no fun for those taking part in the shoot in the Scottish winter which involved submergence in the freezing body of titular water, but while the minimal script doesn’t call for much McKeown and Mitchell are game for it.
Their reactions of incredulity, shock and horror convincing, nor are they shrinking violets despite the cold; they wouldnae be Scottish lassies if they couldn’t pack a punch or swing a stick to defend themselves against the scaled beastie they encounter.
There may not be much plot but the locations are used well and there is also one good laugh, and at only five minutes Creek does not stretch itself beyond the necessary, little more than an effective and entertaining calling card for Robson who also plays the creature, not asking his cast to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself.
Robson’s short to be part of the forthcoming “anthology of demonic tales” For We Are Many produced by Hex Studios, behind the features Lord of Tears, The Unkindness of Ravens, The Black Gloves and the forthcoming Automata, alongside other recently released locally shot films Matriarch and Anna and the Apocalypse there is apparently plenty life – and death – in the Scottish horror scene.
