Crawl (2019 film)

Crawl is a 2019 American disaster horror film directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen.[2] It stars Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper as a daughter and father, who along with their dog, are hunted by alligators after becoming trapped in their home during a Category 5 hurricane.[3][4]

Crawl
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlexandre Aja
Produced by
Written by
  • Michael Rasmussen
  • Shawn Rasmussen
Starring
Music by
CinematographyMaxime Alexandre
Edited byElliot Greenberg
Production
company
  • Raimi Productions
  • Fire Axe Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • July 12, 2019 (2019-07-12)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13.5 million[1]
Box office$91.5 million[1]

The film was announced in May 2018, with Sam Raimi producing through his Raimi Productions banner, and Aja attached as director. Scodelario and Pepper joined the cast in July 2018, with other actors being added later that summer. Principal photography began in August 2018 and wrapped in September 2018.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, 2019, by Paramount Pictures. It has grossed $91.5 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the performance by Scodelario.[5]

Plot

Aspiring swimmer Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) receives a call from her sister Beth, who informs her that Category 5 Hurricane Wendy is on its way to Florida, and advises her to get out of the state. Concerned for the safety of her estranged father, Dave (Barry Pepper), Haley goes to check on him at his condo, but finds it empty. She decides to go check at their old family home in Coral Lake, which he supposedly sold years ago. She goes against the instructions of Beth's ex-boyfriend Wayne who is now a member of the Florida Police Department to not go into Coral Lake, as it is flooding quickly.

At the house, with the help of the family dog Sugar, Haley descends into the crawl space underneath the house, eventually finding her father unconscious and badly wounded. When she tries to drag him out, her exit is cut off by large alligators that Dave believes got into the house via a storm drain open to the crawl space. The alligators are too large to fit under the pipes in the crawl space, allowing Haley and Dave to find safety at the back of the basement.

As the hurricane intensifies and the house begins to flood, Haley attempts to navigate around the alligators to retrieve her phone that she dropped but she is ambushed by two alligators who promptly destroy her phone and injure her leg. She tries to navigate around the basement and notices three people looting a nearby gas station. She attempts to draw their attention by activating her car's alarm but all three are devoured by alligators. Later, Wayne and his partner Pete arrive at the old house in search of Haley and her father. Wayne heads into the house to look for them while Pete is ambushed and ripped apart by a swarm of alligators after the boat's engine gets tangled by debris. Wayne locates them as they warn him of the dangers in the basement. Wayne tries to radio Pete for assistance but he is pulled into the basement by an alligator. Haley tries to save Wayne but the alligator drags him underwater and devours him. In a last-ditch effort to escape, Haley swims to the storm drain where she discovers that the alligators have made their nest and laid eggs, while Dave kills another alligator with a shovel.

Haley successfully kills one alligator using a gun retrieved from the body of Wayne, shooting down the alligator's throat as it nearly bites her hand off. She then swims through the storm drain and out into the flooded street, and makes it into the house to crow-bar the living room floor open, saving Dave from drowning in the basement. Outside, Haley, Dave and Sugar carefully make their way onto a boat, just as the eye of the hurricane moves over the neighborhood. The floodwaters break the nearby levees, flooding Coral Lake even more and crashing them back into the house, where they get separated.

While Dave and Sugar make their way up the stairs, Haley navigates around the kitchen and uses a discarded police radio to broadcast a distress signal to authorities. Dave is attacked by one of the alligators and loses an arm. Meanwhile Haley manages to trap one alligator in the shower. She attempts to flag down a rescue helicopter from an upstairs bedroom but is attacked by another alligator, which attempts to drown her in a death roll. While Dave and Sugar escape to the attic, Haley stabs the alligator in the eye with a flare. She joins her dad and Sugar on the roof, narrowly avoiding being mauled by a fourth alligator before it gets swept away. Haley lights a flare and flags down the rescue helicopter as Dave watches proudly.

Cast
  • Kaya Scodelario as Haley Keller, a student-athlete, Beth’s sister and Dave’s daughter
  • Barry Pepper as Dave Keller, a home contractor and Beth and Haley's father
  • Ross Anderson as Wayne Taylor, a police officer, Pete’s partner and Beth's ex-boyfriend
  • Anson Boon as Stan, a looter
  • Jose Palma as Pete, a police officer and Wayne's partner
  • George Somner as Marv
  • Ami Metcalf as Lee
  • Morfydd Clark as Beth Keller, Haley's older sister who lives in Boston, Dave’s daughter and Wayne’s ex-girlfriend
  • Annamaria Serda as Emma
  • Savannah Steyn as Lisa
  • Cso-Cso as Sugar, the Keller's shaggy terrier dog

Production

On May 1, 2018, Paramount Pictures announced Alexandre Aja would direct the film with Kaya Scodelario starring.[6] Principal photography began in August 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia, and wrapped up the following month.[7] The visual effects were provided by Rodeo FX and supervised by Thomas Montminy Brodeur and Keith Kolder.[8]

Scodelario found the shoot "the most physically demanding" of her career: "I was broken at the end of every day. We were shooting 16- to 18-hour days. I was on set all day, every day. I lost about 12 pounds shooting the movie, but I gained some of it in muscle, which I was quite impressed with. I broke a finger; I came home every day bruised, bloodied and cut open."[9] She has spoken of how she "beefed up" her character as much as she could,[10] eschewing makeup and playing most of the film in her bare feet, explaining: "I fought to have her barefoot... I didn’t want protection on my feet. As a girl who’s a swimmer, she’s going to wear flip-flops and once she has to crawl around, she’s going to kick them off."[9][11]

There was a lengthy debate within the creative team about whether the dog should live or die or perhaps sacrifice herself.[12]

Release

Originally slated for a United States release on August 23, 2019, the film was later moved up to July 12, 2019.[13]

Home video

On October 15, 2019 Paramount Pictures released Crawl on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD with featurettes and deleted scenes [14] [15]

Reception

Box office

Crawl grossed $39 million in the United States and Canada, and $52.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $91.5 million, against a production budget of $13.5 million.[1]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Stuber, and was projected to gross $10–13 million from 3,170 theaters in its opening weekend.[16] The film made $4.3 million on its first day, including $1 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $12 million, finishing third at the box office. The film was not screened in advance for critics, and it was speculated by some publications the eventual positive reception would have led to a larger opening had reviews been available sooner.[17] In its second weekend, the film made $6 million, dropping just 50%, better-than-average for a horror film.[18]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 188 reviews, with an average rating of 6.48/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An action-packed creature feature that's fast, terrifying, and benefits greatly from a completely game Kaya Scodelario, Crawl is a fun throw-back with just enough self-awareness to work."[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 2.5 out of 5 stars and a 46% "definite recommend."[17]

Angelica Jade Bastien of New York praised the film, saying, "Crawl is a great example of a simple story exceedingly well-told. It’s a bloody adventure full of teeth-gnawing turns of fortune, mordant wit, vicious gator kills, and surprising tenderness — that clocks in at a blessedly fleet 87 minutes. It’s a perfect horror film for the summer, as much an ode to the cataclysmic, humbling aspects of Mother Nature as it is a love letter to father-daughter relationships."[21] Jim Vejvoda of IGN wrote, "Crawl is a fun albeit familiar human vs. beast movie, one that gets plenty of mileage out of its setting and people’s deep-set fear of being eaten." He cautioned that fans of Alexandre Aja might be surprised at how mainstream Crawl is compared to his more gruesome horror films.[22]

In November 2019, Quentin Tarantino called Crawl his favorite film of the year.[23]

gollark: This being Apple, you probably can't use an alternative service either without just replacing the device or disabling the cloud™ stuff.
gollark: No.
gollark: I am aware of photosynthesis, actually, and in somewhat more detail than that.
gollark: Have *any* of your messages on this server had any actual information content?
gollark: Wow, I say anyway lots.

See also

References
  1. "Crawl (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  2. Kit, Borys (May 1, 2018). "Alexandre Aja, Sam Raimi Team for Paramount Horror Thriller 'Crawl' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  3. Miska, Brad (May 31, 2018). "Here's the Star of Alex Aja and Sam Raimi's 'Crawl'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  4. Galuppo, Mia (July 18, 2018). "Barry Pepper Joins Kaya Scodelario in Paramount Thriller 'Crawl'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  5. Campbell, Christopher (July 11, 2019). "Stuber is a Bumpy Ride". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  6. Perry, Spencer (May 1, 2018). "Alex Aja Tapped for Alligator Horror Movie Crawl at Paramount". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  7. Janković, Zoran (August 21, 2018). "Alexandre Aja Shoots Paramount Pictures Production Crawl in Serbia". Film New Europe. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  8. "CRAWL - The Art of VFX". www.artofvfx.com. May 7, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  9. Brian Davids (15 July 2019). "'Crawl' Star Kaya Scodelario on the 'Skins' Fib That Launched Her Career". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  10. Ryan Holloway (11 December 2019). "Kaya Scodelario Interview". Horror DNA. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  11. Mel Evans (23 August 2019). "Legend Kaya Scodelario broke her finger during horror Crawl scene, kept filming anyway". The Metro. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  12. Reyes, Mike (2019-07-12). "There's A Dog In Crawl, Here's How The Creative Team Decided Whether It Would Survive". CINEMABLEND. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  13. Pedersen, Eric (March 6, 2019). "Paramount Horror Pic 'Crawl' Creeps Up To July – Update". deadline.com. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  14. Murray, Noel. "Ravenous alligators are loose in a flooded basement in 'Crawl': What could possibly go wrong?".
  15. "Paramount Picture Released". Blu-ray.com. Blu-ray.com.
  16. Fuster, Jeremy (July 9, 2019). "Can 'Stuber' or 'Crawl' Find an Audience in 'Spider-Man'-Dominated Box Office?". TheWrap. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  17. D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 14, 2019). "Counterprogramming 'Crawl' & 'Stuber' Collateral Damage In Superhero Summer As 'Spider-Man' Climbs To $45M+ – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  18. D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 22, 2019). "'Lion King' Rips Up July & Disney Remake Records With $191.8M Opening – Monday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  19. "Crawl (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  20. "Crawl Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  21. Angelica Jade Bastien (July 12, 2019). "Crawl Is a Vicious, Near-Perfect Summer Thrill". www.vulture.com. New York Magazine.
  22. Jim Vejvoda (July 12, 2019). "Crawl Review". IGN.
  23. "Quentin Tarantino Says 'Crawl' Might Be His Favorite Movie of the Year".
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