Crawl (2019) - Movie Review

In a year where the biggest hitters have been culminations of several years’ worth of production work-up, films like this are easily cherished. These low-stakes, high-tension B-movie genre exercises where the focus is placed more on making the audience feel something rather than just see something. It follows in the footsteps of previous review subjects like The Shallows in pitting a tough and determined woman against the forces of nature, and much like Shallows, the under-90-minute run time means that there’s no time to waste time. And the end result is a very taut, very gripping, very wince-inducing offering.

With a Category 5 hurricane turning the streets into swamp land, swimmer Haley and her father Dave are stuck in a basement. The water level is rising, chances for outside rescue are slim, and alligators are about. It’s the kind of setup that shows survival thrills at their most simple but also their most effective, as the pacing is kept nice and brisk so that every moment of life-or-death hits just right.

The effects work by Rodeo FX is a bit iffy, but between the murky waters and the intentional lack of natural light within the basement, you have to actively try and spot the fidelity issues for them to become a factor. Harkening back to the natural horror classics, limited visibility of the very specific danger water maintains the scare factor, making the presence of one into a harrowing proposition and the possibility of more into an outright nightmare scenario. But even if the CG is a bit off, the practical effects used for the injuries our leads get are highly effective. From the haemorrhaging to the broken bones to alligators ripping people limb from limb, it makes for the right kind of stomach churning.

But the truly commendable thing here is that, along with delivering pure genre thrills in a small time frame, it doesn’t skimp on the character development on the side. Cinematic legend Barry Pepper is a boon for pretty much any movie, and since Kaya Scodelario has been given a non-franchise effort for a change, she manages to match Pepper beat-for-emotional-beat. Building on their familial connection, and more specifically why Scodelario’s Haley would risk her life to make sure her estranged father was safe, it builds to a decent crescendo that, not gonna lie, got me a bit choked up once the emotional levies broke. Apex predator all fucking day.

So, yeah, this is a very cool offering. A natural disaster thriller that delivers visual tension and effective gore in equal amounts, while still giving our two main characters their chances to shine in a film that ends up deserving their respective talents. Bonus points for being a story set in Florida, America’s punching bag, and only having one real instance of Florida Man-style antics within the narrative. Then again, it’s kind of depressing to think that "please don’t shoot at the hurricane" is reasonable advice, considering people actually do that shit in the real world.