The late 90’s to mid 2000’s were a land full of creature animal horror films. From Anaconda to Deep Blue Sea and everything in between fans were given films of animals wrecking people in ways you’d only imagine. That’s why in 2019 when Crawl was announced hope was at a low level which makes it so surprising that it ends up being better than it rightfully should be.
Crawl keeps the story simple enough, a hurricane is hitting Florida and Haley has to go check on her father at their old house. Upon arriving she discovers he is underneath the house and has been attacked by an alligator. From there we are given a tense and fulfilling human vs gator showdown for survival.
We are given just enough backstory to establish a relationship between father and daughter and also explain the daughters ability with swimming.
What works so well here is that instead of relying on jump scares and cheap tactics Crawl is filled with nonstop tension once the shit hits the fans. We are given a small environment to deal with a truly scary group of antagonists to deal with. The gators here are a force to be reckoned with and do considerable damage to everyone that crosses their path.
Overall Crawl delivers with some great gore, a lot of tension, and a simple but satisfying plot. Hopefully this starts more big budget animal themed horror films.
Score : 7/10
