Browsing Tag

alligators

Posted on August 9, 2019

Jaw Crushing Horror: Talking Crawl (2019)

Elizabeth Erwin

In today’s episode, we’re wading into Alexandre Aja’s Crawl. Now, we all know that Jaws made a generation afraid to go into the ocean, but does this film’s ode to bloodthirsty alligators offer up a similar heart-pounding experience? And why are we so afraid of what lurks within the water? We’re giving some gator love on this episode, so stay tuned!

And side note, for some inexplicable reason I kept saying crocodile when, in fact, our underwater stalkers are alligators. And as my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Moon, spent many weeks explaining, there is a difference.

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Posted on July 26, 2019

“Apex predator all day, baby!”: Crawl and the myth of human superiority

Guest Post

Alexandre Aja’s Crawl (2019) is a dark, tense, and claustrophobic animal horror film. It delivers on its promise of alligator attacks, scary scenes (I even shrieked once in the theater), and visceral horror. Its premise is simple: a young woman, Haley (Kaya Scodelario), drives to her family home to find her father, Dave (Barry Pepper), as a Category 5 hurricane approaches. When she arrives, she finds him unconscious and injured in the crawl space beneath the house after an alligator attack.

Because the premise is so simple, if what it describes is what you want from the film, you will be satisfied. Most of the film takes place in the cramped, dark basement as Haley and her father try to keep from being eaten by the invading alligators and make it out of the slowly (and then more and more quickly) flooding space before they drown. This setting and premise allow for lots of close calls and slow, building tension. The tension is amplified by the darkness of the space and the murkiness of the water, neither of which is ever so dark or murky that you can’t tell what’s happening. Aja is clearly invested in the alligator attacks themselves, and they are frightening and impressive. (Brian Fanelli’s Horror Homeroom post about the film provides excellent commentary on the film’s success in these terms.) Read more

Crawl alligator
Posted on July 16, 2019

Crawl: This Summer’s Must-See Naturalistic Creature Feature

Guest Post

For anyone who wished that last year’s shark movie The Meg had an R rating instead of a PG-13 rating, then Crawl won’t disappoint. Director Alexandre Aja’s alligator flick is a fun and gory romp, a nail-biting thriller with naturalistic undertones. While the film may not have as much to unpack as other horror hits this summer, namely Ari Aster’s Midsommar, it’s a wild ride that should titillate horror fans and make for a fun time at the movie theater.

The plot of Crawl, which is expertly written by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen, is straightforward. College swim star Haley (Kaya Scodelario) returns to her childhood home in Florida to locate her father, Dave (Barry Pepper), a recent divorcee who went missing after he was attacked by a gator while trying to fix a pipe in the basement, amidst a Category Five hurricane. It’s probably best not to question why he didn’t just evacuate instead of worrying about home repairs. The film includes some family drama and internal demons, but generally, the plot is straightforward without much subtext. Read more

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