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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Crawl (2019) in Movies

Feb 16, 2020

Crawl (2019)

2019 | Horror, Thriller

6.5

(38 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Crawl is silly. Like a lot of these types of horrors, it's really silly.

In short, hurricane season hits Florida, and when Haley sets of to find her father, they both end up stuck in the crawlspace under his house, trapped in by large alligators, and rapidly rising flood water.
It's straightforward, no messing around, and gets right to the characters being in peril. For the most part, it's a neat little thriller, that actually has the odd moment in tension, paired with decent performances from Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper.
The relationship between their two characters carry the film pretty well, and the actors resolve to stay muddy and soaked throughout is admirable.

The CGI effects are pretty terrible. Nowhere near Sharknado levels of embarrassing, but the small budget of Crawl really shows it's ugly head when it comes to the alligators. When they're in water, it doesn't look so awful, but out of water, they look ripped from a PlayStation 3 cutscenes. This includes the first time we see one, which significantly reduces the impact it could have had, especially after it comes immediately after a pretty good jump scare.

In terms of horror, Crawl isn't scary. As mentioned above, it's more a jump scare type of deal, but they're actually quite effective, and just about reigned in enough to not overdo it. The scariest thing about the movie is mother nature, with all too real stormy conditions on display.

Crawl is mostly enjoyable, buts it's not as fun as The Meg for example (5/10) and not quite as good as The Shallows (6/10) so it sits nicely somewhere in between. Worth a watch if you enjoy a silly monster horror now and again.