'Crawl': What a Horror Movie Should Be!
'Crawl' follows the story of a woman as she becomes trapped in the basement of her childhood home with her injured father during a category five hurricane... Oh, and there are alligators!
Now, this is what a horror movie should be! This had me on the edge of my seat! It had some good scares, creepy atmosphere and likable characters.
PROS:
I have so many positives about this movie. First off, I loved the urgency this movie creates. It starts off with the hurricane. We have this fear of this woman going into the middle of a hurricane. Then they introduce the alligators, which speaks for itself. Then, they reveal that the basement is flooding! This creates a constant urgency for these characters to escape. When the alligators are not present, the characters still have to worry about the flooding. As the water rises in the house, the alligators can swim too which makes them more dangerous!
The characters in this movie also have a past as they are father and daughter. The father and mother of the woman are going through a divorce. We see the impact is has on the father and the daughter. There is one scene where they talk about it and they talk about what lead up to it. It is emotional and brings out a different side to these characters. After this scene it makes the audience want them to survive more because we see how vulnerable they are.
I also liked how the hurricane was it's own character in this movie. The way this movie portrays the storm feels as if it were real. It feels as if these characters are caught in the middle of this thing! Having the hurricane portrayed this way makes the story itself more believable.
I appreciated this movie for being a grounded horror movie. It did not treat it's audience as if they are dumb. It knew what it was and did not try to do anything other than that. It is a realistic take on the creature feature!
CONS:
I had two problems with this movie. First, was the first 10 minutes of the movie. It dragged on just a little bit. I understand they were just setting up the character, but I was starting to question the movie right at the beginning. However, after the 10 minutes, the movie does not let up! So it is something I overlooked and forgot about instantly!
The other thing I had a problem with is the side characters. They were useless! They were just there to be eating by the alligators to keep the "horror" aspect of the movie going. A character would show up just to be eaten by the alligators with in minutes. They did not contribute to the story what-so-ever and I did not think they needed to be there.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This movie needs to be seen in theaters! I was spectacle about it, however it delivers on all levels! It is not one of the horror movies out for big scares or trying to be something it is not. It is a grounded horror movie with realistic situations! This is not a silly, over the top creature feature. It knows what it is and does it perfect. Go see this film!
