Crawl
(Paramount Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
By now horror fans are already feeling oversaturated by shark movies and need something different to fill their tastes. Fortunately for them, the new movie “Crawl” will whet their appetite with gator-munching action. Not only is it produced by “Evil Dead” creator Sam Raimi, but it’s directed by Alexandre Aja, whose other notable horror credits includes the 2006 remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” and 2010’s “Piranha 3D.”
College student Haley (Kaya Scodelario) is on the verge of losing her swimming scholarship because of lack of performance. She’s been having personal issues with her father Dave (Barry Pepper) stemming from her childhood and his messy divorce. But when Hurricane Wendy hits southern Florida, she goes against the warnings and heads to the center of the storm to find her estranged father.
After finding his dog Sugar at a hotel condo, she heads to their old family home that’s supposed to be up for sale.
At the house, she eventually discovers her father is trapped in the crawlspace that’s starting to flood. He’s gravely injured and unable to move because of hungry alligators surrounding the place after being washed out from the storm. Unfortunately for them, the gators are still out for blood and time is quickly running out. To survive the ordeal, father and daughter will have to put aside their differences and work together to escape into the storm.
For anyone thinking this movie is “Sharknado” with alligators, it doesn’t go in the direction you may think. There’s more serious drama within the campy horror it provides than one can expect. While not entirely perfect, the human drama is believable enough so that you care for the main characters who try to survive the ordeal. There’s also not much levity to be found since this is a 90-minute horror drama that gets pretty relentless pretty fast. But if it’s levity you really want in a horror film, there’s lots of good older titles to choose from.
Speaking of older titles, the film seems to be going out of its way in referencing “Jaws,” the 1975 classic that spawned imitators. There are some moments that pay homage to Spielberg’s iconic shark film that may be overt like the POV underwater shot through the flooded streets set to a soundalike score. It didn’t need to do that, but the movie’s still fairly suspenseful that you can forgive it. Also, be prepared for some carnage by those nasty gators thanks to some very serviceable CGI.
The movie rests heavily on the two main characters reacting to what they’re seeing around them, and they both did their jobs. Scodelario gives it her all between her scenes of being scared and scenes of her swimming away from those creatures. Pepper’s character is your typical deadbeat father, but the actor tries to add some dimensions to his personality.
“Crawl” doesn’t reach the same heights as other monstrous films, but it’s favorable entertainment in this overstuffed summer season. Just in case you couldn’t afford a big family trip to any fancy water park, this might give you enough aqua thrills in the comfort of an air-conditioned theater.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for bloody creature violence and brief language)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.25 Stars (Out of Four)
