The Creep Tapes – Brad

Giving himself a pep talk as he tests out his camera, Brad (Josh Ruben) makes his way to an open door of the house. At first he knocks, but then cautiously enters and follows the sound of a haunting piano melody. Walking towards what looks like a living room, Brad then sees a man (Mark Duplass) playing piano. The man stops playing and comes over to greet Brad, who explains how the piece that was being played was written by a man named Darby Sanborn. But the man is cleverer than he initially lets on, correcting Brad as he figured that Darby Sanborn is an anagram for Brad Branson….a documentary filmmaker behind the creation of “The Boy, The Man, and The Gun.”

Brad’s backstory becomes much clearer as it is learned that Brad filmed said documentary twenty years ago and has not filmed anything of relevance since that time. Fortunately for Brad, the man has a pitch for a new story and is excited to share it. Leading Brad into his bedroom, Brad sees a dead body face-down on the floor and throws up. Now Brad has been given an option: to film the story behind the dead body and discover the killer…or call the police. The guy leaves the room to give Brad a moment to process the choice, which Brad contemplates on-camera. Believing that he has stumbled onto a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Brad ultimately decides to go through filming and solve the mystery. Eager to find the man and tell him about his decision, Brad goes and finds him digging a hole to bury the body. The man is excited that Brad has agreed to go along with this plan and now the real fun begins.

Before the dead body can be placed into the hole that has been dug, Brad must try and solve the mystery through asking a series of “Yes or No” questions to try and solve the murder. Brad is also not allowed to come out and ask if the man is the killer. The man attempts to begin the inquiry as he pulls the dead body towards the hole. Unfortunately, the man pulls a muscle in his back and enlists Brad’s help in completing the task. They make it to the hole, placing the body in as the man then complains of more back issues and encourages Brad to walk on his back. Brad helps him, but not without a few moans and groans from the man before asking Brad to stop…which he does. When the man walks back and finds Brad has been trying to gather clues about the victim by checking his person, the man then decides to ask Brad if he has figured out who the killer is. At first, the man tells him to take his time but as Brad points the finger at him….he flees.

Feeling that they have accumulated enough footage, Brad decides it is time to leave and runs to his car to get away from the premises. However, when Brad attempts to reverse the car out of the driveway he hits something. Going to investigate, Brad looks out to find he has backed out over another dead body….where the man finds him. Brad is then given another chance to give his answer as to who he believes the killer is, but tries to get out of this scenario by running. Unfortunately, the man catches onto Brad’s tactic and uses the shovel to knock him out. As Brad finally comes to inside of the house, the man then shares filming that he was doing all while Brad had his camera rolling. In this scenario, the man has made it appear that Brad is the killer due to the camera shots that he got. The guy offers Brad another opportunity to change the movie, but Brad is not having it. Trying to flee the premises again, Brad is now greeted with a locked door before running into the bedroom. The guy then puts his camera down and goes to grab his shovel once more. Entering the bedroom through the other door, the man attacks Brad and kills him….seeing the potential behind this new true crime “footage” that has been created.