This classic “monster in the house” tale from Alexandre Aja of “The Hills Have Eyes” and Sam Raimi of “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe” is one of the better horror pics from the summer of 2019. It’s got an intriguing, believable ‘what if’ hook: What if two giant alligators got into your flooded house during a hurricane and you were trapped in there with them?
The key to topnotch horror, besides an interesting, menacing, frightening and formidable monster, is human characters who’re likable, believable and sympathetic. In other words, the audience has to care about what happens to them. And in “Crawl”, Kaya Scodelario (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales ) plays Haley, the daughter and main character, who tries to save her father, played by Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, True Grit and The Green Mile) who’s in their old house doing some repairs when a hurricane hits.
And while I didn’t find parts of it plausible (Can you really trap a huge alligator in a shower and expect it won’t break through the thin, plastic doors? And will a thin metal pipe really keep a hungry gator from eating your savory, human self?), on the whole, I bought into the gator-human battle for survival in an enclosed space.
It’s set up perfectly as the opening scene shows aspiring University of Florida swimmer Haley Keller getting a call from sister Beth who informs her that a Category 5 hurricane is on a collision course with Florida and advises her to get out of the state. Haley is concerned for the safety of her father Dave because he is not answering his phone. Against the police’s wishes and instructions, Haley goes around the roadblocks to search for her father.
She initially goes to his condo but he’s not there. His dog Sugar, however, is and Haley takes the pet along with her when she heads for their old family home, which was supposedly sold years ago (mother and father have divorced), in Coral Lake.
Eventually they arrive at the what turns out to be unsold family home. Haley leaves Sugar upstairs and descends to the crawl space where she discovers her dad, injured and unconscious from (although she doesn’t know it yet) from a gator attack. And this is where we get into, pardon the expression, the teeth of the story.
The father used to be Haley’s swimming coach/mentor and besides family memories, when they’re not battling the planet’s most dangerous, oldest predator, they talk about Haley’s swimming exploits and challenges.
From Wikipedia: Angelica Jade Bastien of New York Magazine praised the film, saying, “Crawl is a great example of a simple story exceedingly well-told. It’s a bloody adventure full of teeth-gnawing turns of fortune, mordant wit, vicious gator kills, and surprising tenderness — that clocks in at a blessedly fleet 87 minutes. It’s a perfect horror film for the summer, as much an ode to the cataclysmic, humbling aspects of Mother Nature as it is a love letter to father-daughter relationships.”[16] Jim Vejvoda of IGN wrote, “Crawl is a fun albeit familiar human vs. beast movie, one that gets plenty of mileage out of its setting and people’s deep-set fear of being eaten.” He cautioned that fans of Alexandre Aja might be surprised at how mainstream Crawl is compared to his more gruesome horror films.[17]
With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 82%, it’s hard to argue with this tight (only an hour and 27 minutes long, almost too short) film being perhaps the best mainstream horror movie in the summer of 2019. Considering it’s the result of Sam Raimi and Alexandre Aja, very well-regarded creators of horror and suspense films, it shouldn’t be surprising how well it turned out. I gave it 7.5 kernels while Stephen rated it 6.5 kernels. After thinking about it more and being reminded how highly critics rated it, I regret not giving it a higher score. At least 8.0 to 8.5 kernels seems like a more accurate assessment now. Whatever, if you enjoy horror and/or suspenseful, fast-moving flicks, this is a must see.
Lee’s Jokes of the Week
Sampling of my gator humor:
- What do you call it when you combine a GPS and an alligator? Answer: Navigator
- What do crocodile chefs use to make many of their dishes? Answer: Crockpot
- What did the alligator say after it broke into Farmer Smith’s house and ate all the occupants? Answer: Hmm, tastes like chicken.
Stephen’s Recommendation
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Okay folks, that’s it for this post. Look for another blog post on this site within the next three or four days. And be sure to check out our latest episode, #15, “Rambo: Last Blood”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVvxl44VhZY
The Movie Review Show starring Stephen Craig and Lee Eide 