Movie Review - Crawl

Director: Alexandre Aja
Genre: Horror/ Action/ Adventure/ Drama
Runtime: 87 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper

Description: While attempting to save her father (Barry Pepper) during a category 5 hurricane, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.

Review: The era of summer blockbuster once started with “Jaws”. And if you loved “Jaws”, you’re really going to like “Crawl” as well. It’s a small survival horror film, where two people are trying to escape hungry alligators. This simple given isn’t a masterpiece like “Jaws”, but results in a surprisingly solid and fun monster movie.
During a hurricane in Florida, Haley is trying to find her father. She finds him knocked out in his basement. And that’s the least of their problems, because the are prey for alligators, who managed to enter the house. And since the water is rising, they have to find a way to get out of the house and away from the alligators.
It’s a pretty simple story, set in one location and it only has two characters. With only 87 minutes of runtime, it’s the perfect recipe for this film. The scare moments are good. No unnecessary jump scares (lots of loud noises and nothing happens), but jump scares when you don’t expect them and something does happen. Very well timed. The characters have a little depth, there is a backstory and you see that father and daughter grew apart. This gives you a little bit of relatability.
The premise could have easily become ridiculous, like “Sharknado” also used a hurricane. But “Crawl” could easily be a true story, for the most part. And it was surprisingly bloody I might say. Just the right amount of horror. And most of the injuries that Haley and her dad get, are believable. Up until the end, it becomes a little less credible, but overall it’s very well done.
What most monster movies miss or horror movies lack, are good performances. Well, not “Crawl”. Both Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper are very strong in their roles. Apart and together. And both portray characters that you can easily relate too or root for.
“Crawl” is definitely a movie that I will rewatch someday and as a lover of monster movies, it’s a film I can recommend.

Rating: 4/ 5