My Review of Crawl (2019)

 

Written by Michael Rasmussen And Shawn Rasmussen

Directed by Alexandre Aja 

Haley: "Apex predator all day."

Sometimes you just crave something a little different in the horror genre and every once in a while, a movie like this will come along. It's something different alright. No masked murderers. Just mother nature and a certain group of water based predators proving they're every bit as dangerous to all and sundry.

This movie focused on swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) who has something of an estranged relationship with her father, Dave (Barry Pepper). Haely's sister, Beth (Morfydd Clark) wants the two to reconnect. Reluctantly, Haley agreed to her sister's wish and went to the old family home in order to try and recpnnect with their father.

Of course Haley picked the worst day for a reunion as the place her father was living in was not hit by a Category 5 hurricane but  also the house became flooded, her father badly hurt and on top of that, both Haley, Dave and the family dog, Sugar spent the majority of the movie being chased by alligators and these guys seriously meant business.

The threat of the alligators within this movie was something that worked far better than I expected. I have to admit there were moments that genuinely made me jump and while I was often more worried for the dog than Haley and Dave, the latter two definitely had their moments too. Before that though, I should add that the dog did make it out of this movie alive. 

As for Haley and Dave, some of the issue largely steamed from Haley's mother leaving them but as the two progressed, both of them were able to work through their issues. They also managed to work together, fending off the rather hungry gators in question as the whole town was ravaged by the hurricane. In the end, man just about managed to survive human nature. 

-  Both Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper worked together in the Maze Runner movies. The cast was largely made of UK actors for a US based movie.

- Quentin Tarantino  cited this as a favourite movie of his and Sam Raimi also has a producer credit to it.

-  Standout music: Rick Boston's Driving In The Car and Bill Haley And The Comets See You Later, Alligator.

- Chronology: Gonna assume around 2019 for this one.

Crawl was not a movie I had particularly any big expectations for, so as a movie, it was a pleasant surprise. The alligators /hurricane provided a different kind of threat and both Scodelario and Pepper were on fine form as Haley and Dave. I've hears rumours of a potential sequel but I'd be fine if this remained a one off. 

Rating: 8 out of 10