![]() ![]() But even that gets a bit tired, when Aja doesn’t know when enough is enough. Basically, Crawl works best when it’s just about a kick-ass heroine fleeing from or fighting gators. (Get it? Like alligators are apex predators!) However, the suggestion that Haley’s real enemy-be it in the pool or in this flooding crawl space-is only her self-doubt is wincingly ham-fisted. And it works well enough even if the treacly talk feels achingly transparent, especially when her dad’s pep talks remind her how he always called her an “apex predator” at swim meets. Moments like this are paired with earnest heart-to-heart talks between father-and-daughter to be sure you’re invested in whether they live or die. The wet snap alone would be enough to turn stomachs, but Aja wants you to see it click back under the flesh, and imagine how that’d feel, that hot, wet, agonizing snap. ![]() He also uses smaller moments of graphic violence to get big reactions, like a scene where Haley’s dad has to reset a bone using a tool belt and a wrench. The R-rating means Aja doesn’t have to hide the blood or dismemberment. Some looters here, some policeman there appear just long enough to signal hope to Hayley before being mercilessly eaten alive. Still, fans of gore will be glad to know there’s a buffet of tertiary characters who are little more than meat puppets for the grinder. ![]() Admittedly, this sneaking threat soured the final act’s fun for me a bit. Maybe deep down, Aja and the Rasmussens want to see a pretty, athletic, and brave girl be ripped to pieces. The tone becomes mean-spirited and menacing, as if maybe we weren’t meant to whole-heartedly root for Haley. Will our action heroine survive like her forefathers did? Aja’s not known for happy endings, you might worry this Final Girl won’t make it to the final scene. But as she limps into the third act (her bare feet also bit up by shattered glass), the vibe shifts from exciting to disconcerting. With a clear nod to Jaws’s Brody saying “Smile you son of a bitch,” her outbursts brings levity by puncturing tension. She’s never totally out of her depth, but also is charmingly outraged by her circumstances. Scodelario brings a Die Hard/John McClane energy to the film. It’s delicious to scream along with an amped audience as Haley has another harrowing encounter with a ravenous gator. The cracking lighting, dark water, and shadowy corners offer plenty of opportunity for jump scares centered on glinting eyes, swinging tails, or snapping jaws. And to get there you have to wrangle with more gators in more absurd settings.įor much of the film this is great fun. Basically, the princess is in another castle. But for every time it seems Haley gets a win, the Rasmussens revel in knocking her down a peg with increasingly absurd twists of fate. It’s reminiscent of a video game’s leveling up, especially as acquired tools like cell phones, screwdrivers, and flares become crucial. The plot structure chases them from the crawl space to the house’s first floor and beyond. You’ll root for Haley, her dad, and their scrappy dog Sugar as the three of them must outwit and outrun these snarling gators again and again as the water’s rise. ![]() Written by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen, Crawl combines the creature feature thrills of Jaws with Aja’s predilection for ghoulish overkill, and a deeply dark vein of humor. Or-more precisely-that’s when a massive alligator bursts through the rickety wooden stairs, splintering them to useless shards before chasing her and her human cargo back to his hiding place. With a Category 5 on its way, Haley scrambles to drag her deadweight dad to the crawl space’s stairs. Soaking wet, coated in gunk, and already fed up, she discovers her dad unconscious and bleeding in a far corner tucked behinds some plumbing pipes. The roof is so low that she has to crawl through all of this muck in her search. It’s full of mud, rats, and even a couple of rotting raccoons from forgotten pest cages. Following the sounds of his FM radio, she tracks her dad (Barry Pepper) to the crawl space beneath the house. And things don’t get better once she’s inside. The roads are washing out as she careens to her childhood home. So Haley volunteers to drive two hours in relentless rain to check on the stubborn old bastard who won’t answer his phone. But with a hurricane roaring toward Florida, Beth is worried about him. Then she gets a nagging call from her older sister asking if she’s heard from their estranged dad. She was off her game in swim practice, falling behind her teammate in the pool, and putting her athletic scholarship in jeopardy. Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) is having a bad day from jump. The twisted mind that brought us High Tension and Piranha 3D has returned to the water for Crawl, a creature feature about a day so terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad, that’s its bitingly comical. There’s a dark humor at play in Alexandre Aja’s latest horror offering. ![]()
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