Movie Review: Crawl (2019)

Crawl (2019) directed by Alexandre Aja

Haley (Kaya Scodelario) is a competitive swimmer whose dad (Barry Pepper) has been out of touch for a while. Her sister calls to find out if Haley is okay and if she has heard from their dad. Haley is at a Florida college and their dad lives about two hours south in a small condo since the divorce. The reason for the sister's call is Hurricane Wendy, a category five storm that's about to hit the area. Haley goes south to find her dad. She winds up stuck in the crawl space of their old family home (it never got sold) with dear old dad and a couple of alligators who came in through the storm drain. The basement is dry so the alligators start off walking around slowly. As the hurricane's rain gets worse, the waters rise quickly and the heroes' safety drops precipitously.

For a b-movie premise, the film has a good bit going for it. The actors do a good job and the young woman is not paraded around undressed like you'd expect in a movie like this. The strained relationship between Haley and her dad is unsurprising in its cause and its resolution. The filmmakers provide the standard emotional connection between the characters, hopefully generating some connection for the audience.  Even the red-herring helpers who show up follow the standard playbook for a b-movie horror. The alligators at least make fresh villains (sharks and zombies seem to be hogging up all the limelight lately) and are used in some creative ways. The movie is thoroughly but enjoyable average.

Slightly recommended.