Creep Van (2012)



Campbell (Brian Kolodziej) is a man without a car, and it's not doing him any good in the job market.  So, when things start to go halfway decent after he gets a job at a car wash, his thoughts turn to finding something cheap - and that's just what an old '70s van sitting nearby promises.

The van, however, is owned by a man (Mike Butler) that has outfitted it with a number of booby traps, from killer seat belts to windows with sharpened blades, in order to turn it into a traveling killing machine.  Turns out the for-sale sign is another ruse to get victims.  When Campbell is put off from a return phone call and refuses to buy the van it puts him and his new girlfriend Amy (Amy Wehrell) on a collision course with the van's owner.

Largely this is a dark-humored tribute to the '80s slasher film.  The Creep (as the driver is called in the credits) never has any reason for the killing other than just to do it, and the victims are the usual mishmash of two-dimensional characters.  Things are inventive enough to keep this from getting too rote.

Unfortunately, after everything else that happens, we have an ending that completely betrays the whole thing.  I understand that most film makers think that horror films need downer endings these days, but if you are going to go for silly you might as well stay on silly.  The ending feels tacked on, as if the makers couldn't think of a satisfying ending so tacked on something from another movie just to wrap things up.

Creep Van (2012)
Time: 80 min
Starring: Brian Kolodziej, Amy Wehrell, Mike Butler
Director: Scott W. McKinlay

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