Crawl

B-movies sure love pitting people as victims against murder hungry animals in cramped environments. Many of them are usually found in made for TV movies that are produced on the cheap to pump out the content at a faster rate but there are big screen features that are attempting to rejuvenate it for modern audiences. Last year saw Jason Statham and a group of researchers taken on an ancient shark, which I reviewed when it came out. This brings us to The Crawl, a new thriller focusing on a different threatening animal to provide some entertainment during a summer that really needs it. A reason this one is standing out is due to filmmaker Sam Raimi's involvement as a producer for this low budget thriller. I've been wanting to take things back to basics and have some nice laid back fun with a creature feature. What's interesting to note is that apparently Universal, the studio distributing this, didn't give advanced press screenings to critics and appeared to not have much confidence in it. After watching it right after Lion King 2019, however, I can definitely say that decision was a mistake as it was more entertaining and exciting to watch than they gave it credit for.

What's it about? The story follows an estranged father and daughter trying to survive against alligators surrounding them in the basement of their old house during a stormy flood in the area. It doesn’t hide the fact that it’s a simple low budget disaster flick with a predictable plot but it's executed well and at a smooth fast pace to get to the action bits. It takes advantage of how dire the environmental hazards are between the basement that’s quickly flooding and maneuvering around outside destruction.

The only negative holding this back is the lack of character development for the protagonists who are just described as having a survival trait such as one being a strong swimmer and the other being more adaptable. It also runs the cliche of a lead character somehow being able to move after being slammed against a wall from a gator and some big bite injuries (so suspension of disbelief is recommended).

How violent is it? It’s impressive how wild the violence is shown from these hungry critters. It should be noted that the only CGI effect used are the alligators and for the budget they had, it’s a great effect with how they appear. The gore and kills definitely earn the R rating to where they are thorough with their prey. Don't expect it to be putting up a lot of deaths or over-exaggerated action as they can only do so much with the short runtime.

Overall Consensus: Crawl is a solid disaster horror thriller with a simple but effective storyline, nice action, and a fun viewing experience to watch. ⭑⭑⭑⭑🍿🎟 Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of disaster creature features involving alligators. You don't mind protagonists lack of character growth. You want to see some fun low-budget kills. You and your friends are looking for a thrilling horror movie. You don't mind predictable scares.

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of disaster creature features. You are bored with protagonists lack of character growth. You don't want to see some fun low-budget kills. You mind predictable scares.