Crawl brought alligators to the forefront of a slow-burn horror film from Alexandre Aja and Sam Raimi, opening the door for other creature features to succeed and the sub-genre to steer away from films like Sharknado.
Equal parts home invasion thriller and disaster movie, the pacing and core of this film was so different than others of its kind. Aja and Raimi have had their finger on the pulse of what scares audiences and keeps them on the edge of their seats for years. Aja, who is known for his work on The Hills Have Eyes remake in 2006 and High Tension in 2003, directed Crawl. Raimi, who is known for The Evil Dead franchise, produced the film.
With the disaster movie seeing a rise in modern times due to climate change being the topic of many important conversations, films like Crawl will undoubtedly pave the way for more creature features to rise in popularity. Likewise, films like Sharknado have dominated the space for a while, almost to the point where audiences couldn’t take animal horror films seriously. The Shallows (2016) reinvigorated the shark movie, but Crawl resurrected the entire sub-genre in a very big way, scoring $89.9 million at the box office and rounding up largely positive reviews.
Crawl Brought A Surprising Amount Of Gore & Scares
Instead of relying on over the top animations with creatures who have been created poorly with excessive CGI, Crawl builds the tension by telling a good story and showing tons of alligator violence, but in a more reserved way. In the film, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) braves a Category 5 hurricane in Florida to go back for her father, Dave (Barry Pepper) whose location is unknown when the storm hits. Haley, who is a collegiate swimmer, has a strained relationship with her father after her parents’ divorce; it is implied they were close when she was younger, with her father coaching her and being tough on her in order to mold her into an incredible athlete. She and the family dog, Sugar, head back to her childhood home to find her father gravely injured underneath the house, which has started to flood. Before he can caution her against her heroic actions, Haley discovers that two large alligators have taken up residence underneath their home, inside the crawlspace where she found her father.
From there, it’s a heart-pounding battle for survival as Haley and Dave try to outwit the cunning beasts while the storm rages on around them. Crawl leans on jump scares, but doesn’t rely on them too heavily. The most surprising aspect of the film was the amount of gore. Limbs are severed, people are eaten by ravenous alligators, there’s plenty of blood and nobody really leaves unscathed, which would be realistic in this sort of situation. Even though it seems ridiculous on the surface, as the film plays on, everything happens in an organic way that’s remarkably believable. Other people who are in the storm loot stores in the background and steal boats to try to capitalize on the disaster, not even considering what dangers might be lurking beneath the high water. Rescue services are overwhelmed and make getting to safety difficult, and the hurricane itself is ferocious. There are no gimmicks or pulled punches here, nor creatures that function in unrealistic ways. Its straightforward approach was refreshing and in league with a more serious look at disaster movies that bodes well for the future of movies in this space.
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