Crawl (2019)

Review

87min

Genre:    Horror, Thriller

Director: Alexandre Aja

Cast:      Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark…more

Writers:  Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen

-Synopsis-

When a devastating category five hurricane heads toward her childhood Florida home and her estranged father goes AWOL, a young determined woman heads home to investigate, only to be plunged into a desperate struggle for survival when she becomes trapped with her dad in a flooded house . . . where they are far from alone.

For decades indie and mainstream audiences have flocked the human prey, relentless animal survival drama/horror/thriller movie; from 70s killer fish in ‘Piranha’ and 90s South American snakes in ‘Anaconda’ to more recent stalker Great Whites in ‘The Shallows’, all the way back to the granddaddy of shark flicks and godfather of the summer blockbuster ‘Jaws’, and even further back to Hitchcock’s 60s masterpiece ‘The Birds’. Now French director and horror remake expert Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D) teams up with American producer and horror master Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) to give Florida gators their due.

Kaya Scodelario stars a young South Floridian ‘Haley’, an independent and hard-headed college student and competitive swimmer, who heads to her childhood home when her equally stubborn estranged father and former coach ‘Dave’ (Barry Pepper) goes missing, as a category five hurricane heads their way. But the mighty storm turns out to be only one of their worries when a congregation of murderous alligators traps them in their home, forcing the father-daughter team to use all their wits and grit to try and survive both rampaging animals and the elements . . . and repair a strained relationship along the way.

It may come as no surprise to learn that Raimi the main producer for this film was also one of the driving forces behind Fede Alvarez’s memorable ‘Don’t Breathe’, because in some ways ‘Crawl’ a creature-led version of that 2016 sleeper horror hit; just substitute blind a psycho for killer gators, and a dead rundown neighbourhood for a hurricane ravaged ghost town—while drawing inspiration from real alligator events from last year’s hurricane Florence.

But none of that is meant as a slight aimed at Alexandre Aja’s work here, in fact it’s the simplicity of story, masterful handling of tension and solid human drama elements that it shares with Alvarez’s film which makes this an unexpectedly crafty and effective horror/thriller itself. Plus some strategically placed jump scares and a bit of graphic limb mangling to make the audience wince doesn’t hurt either.

Like all the creature-feature survival flicks which inspired it, ‘Crawl’ exaggerates the size, sounds and aggression of its rampaging beasts, but ups the frequency and ferocity of attacks, taking advantage of some solid CGI for a film with a very modest budget for a studio picture, and no doubt saving the pennies like many a recent horror film by shooting in Eastern Europe—with Serbia somehow convincingly doubling for South Florida in this case.

After making her debut on British TV and making a name for herself with supporting roles in ensemble blockbusters, Kaya Scodelario takes centre stage in a two-hander—alongside the always reliable Barry Pepper as her mirror image father—adding heart and energy to proceedings and admirably carrying what is not only a tale of survival, determination and sheer will, but also an unconventional and ferocious little father-daughter story.

Let’s be clear here, despite all its merits this is hardly a ground-breaking, boundary-pushing modern horror classic, or one which tries to re-invent the wheel. It doesn’t push the envelope in the way that a recent spate of more disturbing cerebral and perceptive horror hits from the likes of Ari Aster and Jordan Peele did, nor is it as terrifying or creepy as something like the recent ‘IT’ adaptation.

But when it comes to a tense and claustrophobic little screamer, ‘Crawl’ comes into its own, taking a cue from decades of horror cinema and more recent fare like ‘A Quiet Place’, ‘Don’t Breathe’ and ‘The Shallows’, keeping it simple but oh so effective, and delivering an unexpectedly excruciating, enjoyable and well executed little horror/thriller.

The Bottom Line…

A nerve-shredding, limb-mangling gator survival horror/thriller which will clamp down and death roll you into submission, ‘Crawl’ may not offer much in the way of subtlety, intricacy or novelty, but this simple and effective flick knows what it wants to do and does it well, clenching your butt to your seat and holding you there all the way to its triumphant conclusion.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Shallows (2016)

After being attacked by a Great White shark; a young surfer is stranded in paradise on a small rocky outcrop just a stone’s throw from a secluded beach; but her attacker and now stalker’s instinct to kill is matched by her will to survive, in what becomes a game of who blinks first in this tense survival thriller.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada and Brett Cullen among others.

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