Our exclusive clip for Crawl’s home release reveals the horror film’s alternate opening scene. Directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D), the movie revolves around Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario), a college student and competitive swimmer who sets out to find her father (Barry Pepper) and make sure he’s safe during a Category 5 hurricane in Florida. Instead, Haley ends up trapped with him in her old home’s unfinished basement, after they’re cornered by some hungry alligators.
Crawl was a success when it opened in theaters this summer, covering its slim budget several times over and earning critical praise for Aja’s direction, as well as Scodelario’s physically grueling performance. Aja has since talked a bit about how the film evolved during its development, confirming that it originally ended on a far darker note than the final cut does. Turns out, it nearly started pretty differently too.
With Crawl becoming available On Digital today (ahead of its Blu-ray launch on October 15), Screen Rant is debuting an exclusive clip that reveals the film’s alternate opening (see below). The movie’s special features, which include this clip, are available with the Digital release and will be featured in the Blu-ray combo pack next month.
As seen above, Crawl’s alternate opening scene was conceptualized visually, but most likely never actually shot (if only because of how much it could’ve cost). On the one hand, it’s an intriguing scene that would’ve foreshadowed Haley’s eventual battle with the alligators at her childhood home. But at the same time, it might’ve distracted from her story by shifting the focus to a small group of characters that are never seen again (presumably, because they became alligator snacks). Instead, Crawl kicks off with a scene where Haley swims in a competition - an important moment that establishes why she’s so good at swimming, before she ends up having to swim for her life later in the film.
In other words: like a lot of (most?) alternate openings or endings, this scene was probably abandoned for pretty valid reasons (perhaps similar to the ones mentioned). Its absence certainly didn’t hurt Crawl, which plays out as a slick, lean, mean, B-movie thrill ride from start to finish, before playfully wrapping up with the tune “See You Later, Alligator” playing over its end credits. Those who missed the film in theaters should definitely give it a look at home, particularly if you’re a fan of either Aja and/or Crawl producer Sam Raimi’s previous horror work. And thanks to the special features, there’s extra incentive for those who did catch Scodelario’s alligator throw-down on the big screen to give it another go.
Crawl is now available On Digital and becomes available on Blu-ray starting Tuesday, October 15.
