Crawl

Nice and gritty little survival game of wits as a dad and his intrepid daughter try to get through no less than a hurricane just as the floodwaters release a hungry bevy of beauteous and bodacious alligators. Doesn't feel cheap or rushed and with loads of "what's that shadow moving under the water" tension.

In the ilk of "Jaws" homages (and rip offs), "Crawl" stands as one of the more palatable entrees.

There's nothing spectacular or groundbreaking about this fun summer riff, but that doesn't mean it offers no value. At the very least, we can celebrate the successful effort to make a non-sequel or movie based on preexisting IP. Granted, the threatening water predator vs. humans rose in the wake of the classic shark film, but this gator flick has enough original juice to stand firmly on its own.

Part of success comes from simple premise of "Crawl." In the opening phase of a Category 5 storm, a young woman, Haley, receives a call from her sister. Sis has been calling their dad and hasn't yet heard from him. She's worried, as he resides in the area slated to take the worst of the storm. Haley opts to brave the weather, make the two-hour trek and check on dear old dad.

When she arrives at his place, she finds her severely injured father and something even more concerning. Then she quickly understands why he hasn't picked up the phone.

Queue the giant alligators and ensuing chases that take place as Haley and her dad attempt to escape the flooded basement. Fortunately, Haley is a swimmer at the University of Florida, yes, the school with the gator mascot. Her speed and resilience make her a worthy adversary to the collection of gators, and she manages to narrowly avoid death in a string of riveting action scenes.

A few meandering moments explore family drama but don't do much more than fill time. These moments feel entirely forced and only serve to hinder the story's momentum.

The movie is at its best when it leans into the raw and truly frightening action sequences. Kaya Scoldelario displays a knack for playing a strong woman in peril. The movie doesn't work as well if she isn't so solid in the role of Haley.

The movie has no more depth than the shallow basement waters inhabited by the gators, but it's entertaining enough for cursory viewing experience, especially given the brisk 87-minute run time.

Sometimes, all you need to relax and release stress from work or life in general is a simple but effective, entertaining and undemanding horror movie with giant animals and dumb dialogues! It gets even better when the insignificant little summer pic is helmed by one of the most talented and competent horror directors of the last fifteen years. None other than Alexandre Aja ("The Hills have Eyes", "Horns") traveled down to the Sunshine State for "Crawl"; - a derivative but nevertheless intense and nail-biting creature feature in which a couple of potent alligators complicate an already tough category-5 hurricane even more! In spite of numerous warnings to evacuate, young Haley drives back directly into the eye of the storm to look for her father who isn't answering her phone calls. They both end up trapped in the parental house's crawlspace, surrounded by massive alligators that are joyfully swimming free in the streets and houses due to the high water level. The added value of Alexandre Aja is that he definitely makes the most out of the claustrophobic settings, and that he ensures 4 or 5 effectively scary jump scares. The plot is obviously very thin and lends itself for various dreadful cliches and predictable situations. Naturally all the family feuds will become settled during this ordeal, and Haley (a trained and semi-professional swimmer) will be forced to break her own personal record time to escape from the gators. Do you doubt she'll make it? Also, since the two protagonists are most likely to survive, every other poor sucker that enters the scenes is doomed to be torn apart by the alligators, whether they are plundering punks or heroic rescue workers.

A bit of a surprise and a tense and terrifying one at that. It knows what it is and because of that it's able to do what it does and do it well. Good looking Alligators.

I really enjoyed this movie, particularly at the start. It did kinda lose momentum as it went on but the first 40 had me hooked.

I would say it's better than your average "Shark film" for a lack of better term. "Creature" movie maybe. It has a little bit more going for it and shakes it up a little bit.

I feel like it didn't have a huge budget but this is where it impresses me as it did a lot with what it had.

The acting is fine nothing great but you don't really watch this type of movie for that.

You should give it a watch if you like this type of movie I think you would enjoy it.