Hurricanes have been more treacherous than ever over the course of the past few years. As a result of this, Hollywood has found it necessary to create a few films depicting the often horrific events that unfold during these natural disasters. Crawl attempts to take the horror of a hurricane, magnify it and make it more devastating than ever. When Haley (Kaya Scodelario) goes out of her way to retrieve her missing father, Dave (Barry Pepper), she finds that this seemingly simple task will be anything but that. A category five hurricane is on its way toward both Haley and her father, and when she finally finds him, she realizes the place where he is is far from safe. More than just the hurricane now threatens the two of them when they realize that where they are stuck is infested with alligators who are trapped with no food and a terrible temper. The father and daughter pair must work together and push themselves to the limit (physically and mentally) in order to survive what will certainly be a long night.
Going in I had low expectations for the film. I honestly believed that a film about alligators attacking during a hurricane would be a bunch of nonsense and would, ultimately, not hold up well in terms of story. I was only partly right. Crawl, as a horror film, meets what has become a standard in Hollywood, a series of jump scares to keep the audience on edge. There is jump scare after jump scare, and that leads to audiences feeling a bit uneasy throughout the film. The story itself, however, is rather boring. Confined to a small area for an hour and a half, audiences begin to feel a bit underwhelmed with what takes place in regard to the horror aspect of things. I feel that, with the exception of the jump scares, writers Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen do not do enough to develop the characters in order to make audiences care about them. Haley and Dave appear merely to be vehicles used to guide the dreary story, rather than actual characters with which audiences are able to sympathize. There is one character, however, that finds her way into the hearts of viewers. That character is Sugar (Cso-Cso) the shaggy terrier. She is heart-warming and truly adorable, and, like most dogs in films, presents herself to audiences in a fashion that has them rooting for her throughout the course of the film. While it is common for animals to warm the hearts of moviegoers, it is disappointing to see a dog (not in a lead role--that sounds weird to say) mean more to the audience than the characters that writers and directors work so hard to develop.
I said I was only half right about Alejandre Aja’s Crawl. While the characters are ultimately underdeveloped, there are moments when Haley and Dave have some innately human moments that do, from time to time, reach audiences. There are cute father-daughter moments that resonate with viewers, but, those moments are often cut off by the ridiculousness of the rest of Crawl.
I am unimpressed with the look of the film. In general, Crawl is full of vivid and brightly colored images that are meant to bring the set, and the story, to life. What it does, however, is make the set look overly manufactured and unimpressive. The sets wind up looking fake, and the alligators, while appearing to possess accurate movements and sounds, also appear underwhelming in the grand scheme of things. It seems that the editing, set design and art direction goes overboard when trying to appeal aesthetically to audiences. In doing so, they make Crawl appear even more fictional than it already is and turn viewers off.
Even with low expectations, I hoped that with Sam Raimi helping to produce the film that Crawl might surprise me or at least have moments of genius sprinkled throughout the film. As a whole, I feel that with a budget of more than thirteen million dollars and highly regarded individuals helping to create the piece, Crawl is a disappointment. If you are solely interested in viewing a picture full of jump scares and little substance, Crawl is currently available on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
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