Creep’s Peachfuzz Is An Underrated Horror Villain

Mark Duplass’ character Josef might be the villain proper of Creep, but the movie wouldn’t be anywhere near as disturbing without his terrifying alter ago Peachfuzz. Mumblegore horror movie Creep is the brainchild of indie darling Mark Duplass and director friend Patrick Brice who premiered their movie at SXSW in 2014 to critical acclaim. The found footage frightener was inspired by Brice’s bizarre experiences with the classified site Craigslist alongside psychological two-hander thrillers like Misery and Fatal Attraction.

Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass also star in Creep as Aaron and Josef. Aaron is a struggling videographer who accepts Josef’s online ad to travel to his remote cabin and film a message to his unborn son before he dies of terminal cancer. Aaron’s assignment soon goes awry when he discovers Josef has been lying about pretty much everything and is actually a very disturbed person. When Josef’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic and alarming, Aaron makes a hasty escape only to find himself stalked by Josef who eventually murders the videographer and reveals himself as a prolific serial killer.

One of the most disturbing things about Josef is his habit of donning a creepy wolf mask he dubs Peachfuzz. Initially, Josef claims Peachfuzz was a friendly wolf character his father made up when he was a kid but later backtracks and confesses to Aaron he bought the mask and wore it while assaulting his wife to confirm her bestiality fetish. Josef is at his most unnerving when he’s in Peachfuzz mode – in fact, he’s wearing the wolf mask when he tries to prevent Aaron from leaving his cabin and when he kills him at the end of the movie. It’s almost like Peachfuzz is the Creep villain’s alter ego – a persona he adopts to perform his most disturbing acts.

Interestingly, Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass were originally going to call their movie Peachfuzz rather than Creep, which only emphasizes the importance of Josef’s wolf alter ego to the movie’s plot. When Brice and Duplass reunited in 2017 for Creep’s sequel (aptly titled Creep 2), Peachfuzz made a return alongside Josef who again utilized his mask while luring in a couple more unsuspecting victims. So, while Josef is undoubtedly the antagonist of the series, his Peachfuzz Creep alter ego is central to his murderous games and therefore deserves more recognition as the series’ true villain.

Horror fans will be happy to learn that Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass have plans to add a third film to their found-footage horror series. According to the latest reports, the duo is currently hashing out the details of the sequel but here’s hoping Josef’s freaky alter ego Peachfuzz makes a return in Creep 3.