It was a pretty disappointing summer for mainstream movies, as the massive, big-budget studio tentpoles kept on failing one after the other. Thankfully, the small-scale Crawl was a refreshing surprise to the summer box-office season. The movie has everything from the backing of a major studio like Paramount, to the feeling of watching those indies that people love to rave about.
Directed by Alexandre Aja, the movie features a brilliantly simple B-movie premise. A Florida college student Haley (Kaya Scodelario) returns to her former family home to check on her divorced father, Dave (Barry Pepper). A Category 5 hurricane is underway and he has not been answering any calls. The trip eventually turns into a rescue mission when she finds him trapped in the house’s crawlspace. His leg is broken and has a rather nasty looking bite mark from an alligator that found its way indoors. Things get even worse as more of the gators make way into their home, while the floodwaters rise.
With fast, action-packed, white-knuckle thrills, and plenty of people-chomping toothy reptiles, the movie is successful in delivering exactly what it had promised. It also gained quite a fan base by doing so.
9.5 ⭐️,,
Literally scream almost half of movie, the alligator was so fucking big dude, just wonder how can daddy save with one arm… #CrawlMovie pic.twitter.com/UFArqi3OYJ— Queen Of Darkness|| STILL ALIVE (@nad_kwon88) July 24, 2019
OH YEAH saw Crawl w fwends yesterday and quick review
PROS
– Big lizard friends
– Good dog character
– Dad was a bad bitch
– Was fun tbh!CONS
– No Betty White— 😈🐱 the cabinet man (@kingcreacher) July 17, 2019
My youngest asked me to take him to see #CrawlMovie last night. I wasn’t feeling it, but I checked Rotten Tomatoes and it was 84% fresh. Surprisingly, a really enjoyable, fun, jump-scare movie! Recommend! pic.twitter.com/gD219bfrLq
— Aaron Kigar (@ACsa40) July 23, 2019
Me every single time a gator chomped in #CrawlMovie pic.twitter.com/mGx5nBSoyd
— Jenna Anderson (@thepotofpetunia) July 24, 2019
Writers of the movie Michael and Shawn Rasmussen has successfully made a fool-proof plot which has no shortage of ways to put their characters in jeopardy. As the movie moves forward, the plot keeps the stakes high but refreshingly simple: don’t drown, escape the house, and avoid getting eaten.
The summer box-office needs more movies like Crawl. It is a relief for viewers from the intellectual burden of superhero movies and over-meddling CGI blockbusters. Though the movie is not a patch on Lewis Teague’s charming Alligator, a steady dose of more action-thrillers like this may help send comic-book carcinoma into remission.
