Giant monster movies, creature features, and "When Animals Attack!" films have long been guilty pleasures and, with a few notable exceptions 'cough' (JAWS) 'cough'... are looked on as the dregs of the horror genre. Once in a while though a truly great film comes along. Jaws was the lone standout in the "When Animals Attack" genre for a long time. There are others of course, but this genre remains disproportionately in favor of schlock. I love schlock. I'd take a series of ZOMBEAVERS movies if they'd give them to me. But I do enjoy when these films ascend to the next level as truly amazing and intense thrillers.
CRAWL is one such film that takes the genre to the next level. Directed by Alexandre Aja (who gave us such films as HIGH TENSION, PIRANHA 3D, and HORNS) and produced by Sam Raimi, Crawl is an alligator flick to last the ages. It is one of the best, if not the best, alligator movies I've ever seen. As a kid I was of course fond of dinosaurs and that affinity thusly translated to reptiles as well. I thought alligators, snakes, lizards, and turtles were so cool. They were maybe my favorite class in the entire animal kingdom (next to sharks). As such I tried to see as many reptile horror films as I could.
I must admit that there aren't many killer reptile films I go back to often. But Crawl will definitely be one.
I loved this movie!
THE PLOT
A hurricane has hit the Florida coast. Haley's parents house is among the homes in the path of the storm. And she hasn't been able to get in touch with her dad. Haley drives to her parents house where she finds her father's truck parked out front and the doors to the crawl space beneath the house wide open. Dark, muddy, and rising with water, Haley hesitantly descends into the crawl space. She finds her dad unconscious in the mud, his shoulder ripped open and his leg broken. Haley goes into panic mode as she tries to get him help, not noticing the hungry alligator who has taken up residence in the crawl space with them.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
Generally speaking, you don't go into these movies expecting to get much out of them. These are pure unadulterated popcorn films. There's no agenda, no politics, and really no deeper meaning than a harrowing survival story. They're simply people trapped and trying not to get eaten alive by killer animals. And that's exactly what Crawl is. And it is wonderful. And refreshing as it's been a while since there's been a quality killer croc flick.
Simplicity works in this film's favor too. There are only two actors that really matter in this film. Any others that show up are merely victims for the alligators and an excuse for a little (or a lot) of bloodletting. Actors Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper (who were both in the Maze Runner films together) are fantastic as the leads and make for a really convincing and genuine father/daughter duo. Although one has to wonder why these two are so hard for the alligators to kill yet everyone else that shows up are such easy pickings. The simple answer is that these two know that they're beset by alligators whereas most of the others are caught unawares.
The tension and suspense is set up well. That's the other element needed for this movie to succeed: good actors and great setups for terror and suspense. Alexandre Aja and Sam Raimi use their extensive experience to wonderful effect here delivering one scary and intense thriller. There really isn't much more to it. It's just pure exciting entertainment done very well. I don't really have any nits to pick with this film as it is such a purely wonderful genre experience.
THE VERDICT
Simple and effective, Crawl is the perfect summer movie pallet cleanser against all of the blockbusters, super hero movies, and Disney inundation forced our way. It's a small, intimate cast and story with high stakes for those involved. There's no extra garbage to think about or politics thrust in our faces. Crawl is one of the best thrillers I've seen this year and one of the best "When Animals Attack" films in the last decade. I loved it. It's the JAWS for alligator films.
Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10
For more films by Alexandre Aja and When Animals Attack films, check out these other posts below!
wow, I need to review more When Animals Attack films!
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