Every once in awhile, I get this urge to watch a low budget, seemingly interesting movie that I’ve never seen before. When I get this urge, more often than not, the movie that I pick is a “monster” movie that focuses on real life animals attacking humans. Whether they’re sharks, anacondas, or alligators, I’m always down to watch a movie that places people in unusual situations while dealing with hugely ferocious creatures. With all of that said, one of *those* days struck me last week, and so, I watched the 2019 Drama/Horror/Thriller (thanks IMDB), Crawl featuring Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper.
The story starts off with swimmer Haley, who receives a call from her sister, telling her to leave the area as a hurricane is about to wreak havoc. Haley, who hasn’t heard from her father in a few weeks, tries to contact him but gets no response. As she begins to panic, Haley decides she’s going to drive down to her father’s home to find him. From there, the father and daughter are stranded and trapped in the houses’s crawl space, while two alligators are hunting them. The movie then becomes a series of failed plans to escape and extraordinary hunting techniques by several alligators in the region.
First off, all I have to say is “what the actual f***.” No really, what did I waste my time watching? I was so ready for a crazy alligator movie and what I got instead was me wishing that I watched Sharknado instead. The premise was interesting, the characters and their relationship was pretty fleshed out, but when it came down to it, the movie did not work for me. I couldn’t understand why someone FROM Florida would drive into a category five hurricane. But that was the least of my worries because the disbelief only escalated from there.
The “killer alligator” idea has been done before but you think that it’ll be done a bit differently and successfully this time around. Yeah…that’s what I thought too. There is so much that happens in this film that creates anxiety, but for me, the one thing that did not, was the main villain: the alligators.
If you’re a bit of an Animal Planet/nature documentary fan like I am, you know how alligators behave. And that means, that this movie will probably enrage you; because I truly do not believe that anyone on this movie has ever watched a documentary about alligators and if they have, they completed disregarded the animals nature and hunting instincts. This movie features alligators that are more like sharks and felines than anything else. They are patient for the hunt, the sniff out blood and they’re ready to “pounce,” they attack and eat people for no reason, and for some reason, they also have the ability to launch through windows and stairs??? These alligators must be a super species because I know for a fact that alligators only hunt when they’re hungry and once they’ve eaten, they’re chilling until they’re hungry again. Yet these ones just eat and eat and eat.
Alligators are NOT actively seeking out their prey and they don’t have a hate boner for humans. But the ones in Crawl do, and it’s amazing to see the alligators constantly try to attack Haley. Anyone who has ever seen a nature documentary knows that once an alligator has a piece of you in its mouth, you are not freeing yourself. It’s going to put you in a death roll and you’re gonna be its meal that keeps it full for the next couple of weeks or months. There’s also no way in hell you’re out swimming an alligator, but for some reason, these facts are null and void in this movie.
Not only does Haley manage to escape several alligators death grips (at different points in the movie), she also manages to out swim them after her father tells her “you’re faster than they are!” Now, I’m all for positive reinforcement from parents but dude…let’s not lie to the girl. Because in reality, that is a HUGE lie that will get her killed, but in Crawl, it’s the truth and won’t He do it, Haley manages to swim faster than a damn alligator.
I also think that the NFL needs to recruit one of the alligators in the film because that guy has some serious throwing power. I kid you not, there was a scene where an alligator grabbed a police officer, threw him in the air, and then TOSSED him to another alligator. Then, three others joined the party and they ripped the man apart. That’s all I really have to say about that because in all of my years nerding out over alligators, I have never seen such extraordinary behaviour.
So…with all of that said, if you’re okay with watching a movie that completely ruins the decent rep of alligators and turns them into feral beasts, Crawl is for you. I’d even suggest that everyone should watch this movie because it is entertaining albeit frustrating and anger inducing. At the end of the day it’s a whirlwind and a movie that will either amuse you or fill you with rage.
Either way, enjoy! And remember: you are not faster than an alligator.
The Film Tease 