The Creep Tapes – Jeremy

For the latest episode of his series “Gotcha,” Jeremy (Josh Fadem) corresponds with a Father Tom Durkin (Mark Duplass) as a way to expose the Catholic church. However, on the way up to the house…Jeremy begins to feel slightly creeped out at the gnomes and ominous feel of the rather dark house. While Jeremy knocks and waits at the door, he hears noises coming from the side of the house….and Father Tom comes out from the shadows to scare him a little. But as the Father and Jeremy had corresponded to meet, the meeting starts off rather quietly as Jeremy is instructed to head inside and wait in the living room until Father Tom is ready to talk. As Jeremy begins to wait, he hears strange noises coming from the other side of the house. Figuring that he can use the footage and potentially expose the Father doing inappropriate things, Jeremy brings his camera along and finds that the noises are coming from a room next to the bedroom. When he goes to open the door, he sees Father Tom exercising quite rigorously…which would explain the noise. For Father Tom, it is his way of “exorcising the demons”….with literal exercise. Jeremy heads back out to the living room to wait again.

When Father Tom is ready to talk, Jeremy is put a little more on edge as this Father is not like any other religious figure he has met. Father Tom tries to offer his guest wine, turns on “Hallelujah” at deafening levels, and is placatingly apologetic. Although wanting to debate, Jeremy is eager to make the meeting quick and to the point…then leave as soon as possible. However, Father Tom is into the idea of both men debating their principles and having a conversation. And the Father gets right to his point, admitting that people must be scared of religion and of the church. Seeing his “in,” Jeremy immediately begins to rant and admit his anger towards the church and organized religion before telling Father Tom that he will be exposed on this episode of “Gotcha.” Appearing freaked out, Father Tom runs out of the room.

Pleased with the result, Jeremy begins to feel vindicated that he finally did what he came out here to do. But Father Tom is far from scared as he begins to start banging on the windows and trying to unsettle Jeremy even more. Eventually, the Father returns inside and admits that he has been a fan of Jeremy’s show. But when Father Tom begins pouring out some drinks and lighting up a joint, Jeremy begins to doubt the validity of this meeting. Fortunately for Father Tom, he wants to help Jeremy make the greatest episode of “Gotcha” and is ready to share some dark secrets with him. Pulling up a video, Father Tom shows Jeremy an exorcism of a man in nothing more than his underwear, a wolf mask, and a cross. By the end of the video, Father Tom admits that it was him in the mask and from that moment forward he had aligned himself with the church. Jeremy lies and says that he is no longer a critic of the church, but Father Tom does not believe him.

In order to truly convert Jeremy, Father Tom begins talking about the parable of the footsteps in the sand as he draws a bath. Seeing this as a form of baptism, Father Tom tries to encourage Jeremy to get in the bath so that they can perform a baptism of sorts….with Jeremy having his head under the water until he becomes a believer. Initially, Jeremy complies with the request and begins to take off his socks and shoes. But in a moment of desperation, Jeremy hits Father Tom and begins to run out of the house…Father Tom right on his heels. Getting to his car, Jeremy attempts to start the car only to find that it has been disabled as the Father holds a piece of wire up to taunt him. Locking his car doors and fearing for his life, Jeremy has nowhere to run. Thinking that there is no one outside, Jeremy goes to open his car door, and Father Tom immediately rushes in with an ax….killing him. Once the deed is done, Father Tom picks up Jeremy’s body and finishes telling the footsteps parable…the irony being that he is now carrying Jeremy’s body.