Crawl

NEW TO HULU REVIEW! From the director of The Hills Have Eyes remake, Piranha 3D and Horns comes Crawl, an understated-yet-visceral, poignant drama about family bonds – and the global warming crisis!!! – under the guise of an alligator horror movie. 

Of course, I’m completely full of s**t. Crawl is about as straightforward as B-flicks like this get – and you know what? I’m actually grateful for the lack of overt politicizing or forceful attempts to infuse a creature feature with relevant themes. Who wants to engage in another exercise of pedagogical finger-wagging? #NotMe. If it’s pure, dumb-as-a-croc (apologies to those hyper-intelligent creatures for the pun) escapism you’re after, then Crawl arguably packs more of a punch than the last two Jurassic Worlds combined – on a 20th of their budget.

“…they attempt to resolve their festering issues in the pits of his Florida home, whilst fighting off vicious alligators.”

Unlike Bryce Dallas Howard’s much-criticized high-heels, Kaya Scodelario’s flip-flops get swiftly ripped, as she, yes, crawls through a rapidly-flooding basement to rescue her distant father Dave (Barry Pepper). Things didn’t always use to be so tense between them – Dave was her swimming coach once, you see. (Give yourself a star if you guessed that her prowess as a swimmer might come in handy in stormy, gator-infested waters). Now they attempt to resolve their festering issues in the pits of his Florida home, whilst fighting off vicious alligators.

That’s about it in terms of plot, really. And that’s all that’s required. Granted, the script by brothers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen could’ve used some polishing. The whole father-daughter bonding reeks of the chopping room floor – or it needed to be fleshed out more, to give it at least a semblance of realism. As it stands, Barry Pepper tearing up as he atones for his sins is unintentionally laughable, unlike, say, the purposefully tongue-in-cheek humor of the underrated horror-comedy Piranha 3D.