Crawl – Frightfest 2019 Review

Bloody Hell, that was tense! So much nervous laughter in that screening, and people evidently relieved to find a peaceful evening when they stepped outside.

Crawl is about Dave (Barry Pepper, Saving Private Ryan), who stubbornly ignores hurricane warnings and evacuation orders; and about his reluctantly devoted daughter Haley (Kaya Scoledario, Skins) who goes to check on him. But instead finds herself trying to rescue him as he’s injured and stuck under their old family home when she gets there. Crawl is also about father and daughter together – as well as a few minor characters – defending themselves against a family of alligators.

So essentially we have a good old fashioned story of man facing off against nature, and nature fighting back, albeit in a different form. These aren’t mutant creatures, like you might find in similar films in the seventies; nor prehistoric leftovers like in Piranha 3d by the same director, Alexandre Aja. They’re simply very big and very hungry. The storm seems to put them in the mood for a smorgasbord, as Chief Brody would have said; but as most people have left town, it’s only natural they focus on the few who are left – or stayed – behind.

“In Crawl, the threats, tension and WTF moments came equally from storm and sharp, pointy teeth alike.”

Apparently, Crawl was inspired by news articles following Hurricane Florence in Florida last year, which showed alligators walking the streets after the storm settled. Inspired by and then exaggerated and extrapolated from the news articles, let’s say: I don’t think there were reports of any alligators attacking people during Florence. In Crawl, the threats, tension and WTF moments came equally from storm and sharp, pointy teeth alike. And yes, the danger was piled on to a ludicrous level, as were the convenient coincidences and the over-the-top attacks that the heroes brush off a minute later.

That doesn’t imply that Crawl was predictable: far from it. Some of what happened was so outlandish that no-one could possibly have predicted it. It did fall foul of a couple of disaster film tropes (most notably the family members who don’t get along air their differences during a crisis and get closer again); but just as often, the film jokes with its audience about its cliches, such as when we expect someone to be attacked, and it happens to someone else instead.

Aja has directed a range of different films with elements of horror, thriller and action: no two of his films so far have been of a similar style. He has clearly mastered setting the right atmosphere for his films, along with pacing, and making good use of his characters. In Crawl, after a little scene setting and introducing the main character, the film made the whole audience tense by following Haley driving against the hurricane, and barely let up at all until the end. The weather really compound the tension, not just because of the danger, but the noise too. Sound was stressed throughout the film, probably making some of the alligator attacks more dreadful. Seeing someone being bitten is one thing, but hearing the loud, drawn out crunch alongside it is another.

“Seeing someone being bitten is one thing, but hearing the loud, drawn out crunch alongside it is another.”

I’ve heard Crawl described as being “like Jaws, but trapped in a house”. Having now seen it, I just disagree. Jaws is certainly a masterpiece of storytelling, but it is not relentless; and where Jaws develops characters and family relationships, Crawl does that just enough to give purpose to the plot and no more. There’s more blood and “injury detail” than Jaws (though nowhere near as much as in Piranha 3d); but more importantly, this film has an utterly different character. It’s tense, exciting and fun.

I know I’ve mentioned the tension a lot, but honestly that’s what made the film such a success. The people and their reactions to what was going on around them were utterly believable, even if some of what happened wasn’t. And so I got into Haley’s flip flops and felt everything along with her. I often swapped grins with the person sat next to me because we both realised we had our hands on our faces, or gripping the seats at the same time. I gasped, winced, groaned, even said “no!” to the screen; and I was so sucked into that world that the lack of rain in London afterwards did not feel entirely real.

Bravo, Alexandre Aja. I will be telling my friends to go and watch Crawl, and I will look forward to the inevitable sequel.