Considering how many killer shark films there are, it is strange there are so few about alligators or crocodiles, especially as they have the added menace of coming out of the water. There is near forgotten Alligator (1980) and the excellent Lake Placid (1999), but little else of merit, though I do have a soft spot for Lake Placid 3!
Alligators are the threat in Crawl. Haley (Kaya Scodelario) can’t get hold of her Dad (Barry Pepper) when a hurricane is approaching his area. She goes to his house and finds him injured in his basement. As the weather worsens and the waters rise, alligators begin to terrorise them. In many ways this a pretty straightforward creature feature B movie with few pretensions.
However, director Alexandre Aja manages to keep things pretty tense all the way through. The scares may be jump ones but they are delivered just frequently enough and with a real flair. It helps that writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussan manage to define the characters nicely in some brief early scenes, so I was invested in them.
The performers are fine, and the effects decent enough not to be a distraction. There are the expected plot holes – however good a swimmer you are, you are not going to be faster than an alligator, and there is no way that you can sustain the level of attacks that Haley does and only suffer such minor injuries – but this is very effective entertainment.
Rating: 7 out of 10