Crawl Is A Fast, Fun, And Intense Horror Flick That Surprises And Entertains

 Creating a horror flick is both a daunting and challenging task in itself as it must be effective in terms of scaring it's audience. Making a horror flick that has an alligator as the main antagonist is an even harder task as the concept comes across as cheesy relying on crafty writing and directing to make it work. With the concept of Crawl, the opportunity is there to not only be creative and bring something fresh to the screen, but also serve as a throwback to cheesy monster flicks such as Lake Placid for example. With a story like this one, the film knows exactly what it wants to be and ultimately delivers on being exciting and fun to watch while generating admiration in regards to how it tries to ground itself in reality with the films setting and emotional core regarding the relationship between the main character and her father. Crawl is a film that embraces the traits of a typical horror film and delivers on its promise to entertain while attempting to be creative with its story. Given that many horror movies today rely on excessive gore and loosely sell true events in an effort to entice their audience to buy tickets, its noble to see one that knows exactly what it wants to be and delivers on its promise to entertain and scare.

      The plot for Crawl centers around a young woman, trapped in a crawl space in a flooding house in her Florida hometown, tries to save her injured father while being pursued by killer alligators during a Category 5 hurricane, leaving them with no choice but to fight for their lives. Right off the bat, Crawl deserves props for attempting to be both creative and realistic with its story with keeping the environment grounded within a scenario, that feels absolutely believable to the audience. With the recent hurricane storms hitting the East coast of the United States, it brings believability to the story as well as the concept of people being trapped in their house and trying to avoid being killed by the hurricane, but also avoiding the fate of being eaten by alligators. Crawl feels like there was some genuine effort put into the story to make it exciting and make audiences think what would they do in that situation, such as would they rather take their chances in the Hurricane and open waters where there's numerous alligators probably floating around, or try to remain in the house until help arrives. Given how the story is well-restrained, the filmmakers delivered the best story they were allowed to with the barrier the plot set up. The concept of man vs nature with man fighting to survive against a force more powerful than him can make for a seriously compelling story with Crawl taking that scenario and making it Women vs nature with hugely satisfying results.

     From the beginning, Crawl was only going to succeed as a horror flick if it was handled in a way where both the writing and directing was crafty and exercised creativity.  The film wastes no time in getting the audience to know the main characters and connect with them so when the storm hits, they know what's at stake and can root for their survival rather than wanting them to get eaten because their characters are bland. The characters of Haley and Dave are fairly strong and relatable with Haley making for a strong main female character, who must out think an alligator or two. As far as their performances go, Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper both do a very good job of playing their parts and making the audience care about their plight as they share strong chemistry as being father and daughter. Given that their characters are the main focus of the story, both actors do a very good job of carrying the film on their shoulders. The fact that the filmmakers opted to go with lesser known characters in this story is a smart move as the latter would've distracted the audience and kept them from focusing on the characters themselves. With the films structure, the lack of characters with the main ones dominating the screen is a clever approach as the actors performances are not only tested but allow the other characters in the film to connect with their story despite having minimal yet effective roles. The performances Scodelario and Pepper give add both humanity and heart to the story making their characters strained relationship heartbreaking for the audience, but also makes them working together to survive even more thrilling. The heart and soul of the film was always going to lie within the films casting and luckily for it, the performances are top notch.

      In terms of the films directing and writing, Alexandre Aja does a good job of building up the suspense and tension with the characters being trapped in the house with the alligators with the script by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen coming across as a mesh up between Twister and Lake Placid with the films brilliant inclusion of a hurricane into the story. Crawl has elements that make it feel like a horror movie with the characters being trapped in a secluded location away from everyone else, leaving them to fend for themselves against the alligators pursuing them. Aja delivers gory moments with the story but restrains them in a fashion that makes the film feel like Jaws for alligators. The most notable aspect of both the writing and directing, is how the filmmaking team behind Crawl chose to put the human characters first making them people you want to see survive and putting the alligators in the background with impressive CGI work compared to the rubber shark used in Jaws. The film doesn't feel like it ever makes fun of itself, but it certainly gives the feeling that its enjoying its concept while giving it a serious enough tone that doesn't feel over-the-top nor ridiculous or goofy. The subplot involving the main character Haley being sad about her father Dave's divorce from her mother and her blaming him for not trying to work things out with her, is effective enough for the audience to care despite being loosely developed (Though dealing with a story like Crawl, a little exposition is better than excessive). Aja setting the film in a crawlspace gives the film a claustrophobic feel, that helps intensify the scenario presented with the film utilizing that angle pretty often. The films pacing is brisk as it immediately draws the audience in and takes them into the storm with the characters and never once letting go throughout the films 90-minute plus running time.

      Despite the well-execution of Crawl, the film isn't without its moments of imperfection such as the introduction of generic side characters, who serve no other purpose in the story other than to get eaten. The father-daughter dynamic despite being handled well by the main actors comes across as feeling rather vague with the CGI of the alligators being a tad obvious a few times. Though the film does contain flaws, those issues are minor ones that easily get overshadowed by the amount of craftsmanship and thought that went into telling the story. Crawl is a film that knows exactly what it wants to be and never feels like it overstays its welcome. It delivers on the chomping and popcorn entertainment while giving an appealing female heroine fighting to survive. The films climax is effective and serves as being a nice twist with the audience being on the edge of their seat wondering what happens next. It really speaks true volumes to the quality of the film when the audience shows concern for the dog in the film. Aja deserves praise for taking what could've easily been an extremely silly and cheesy story and makes something more of it, that can actually be taken seriously as solid entertainment while being exciting to watch from start to finish. If one is looking for a solid action and horror flick, that has a basic plot but delivers it in a way that comes with some fresh twists and turns then Crawl is worth your time and energy as its not only surprising but delivers in being loads of fun to watch. One hopes to see more surprises like this one come out of studios as rather than going to the extreme with big budgets, Crawl shows that being set in one setting with minimal characters can still make for a thrilling story as long as the characters and setting are believable.

Final Verdict: Crawl is a must see for horror fans as it will provide fast and fun entertainment without requiring one to do an excessive amount of thinking.