Crawl (2019)
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A daughter and her father must survive a flooded home infested with alligators during a catastrophic hurricane.
The story
University of Florida swimmer Haley Keller receives a call from her sister advising her to leave the state due to an imminent Category 5 hurricane. Concerned for her estranged father Dave, Haley checks on him at his condo but finds it empty except for the family dog, Sugar. Ignoring evacuation orders, she travels to their old family home in Coral Lake, a location at risk of flooding. Upon arriving, she finds the house empty and enters the crawl space, where she discovers her father mauled but alive. She must then navigate the rising floodwaters and the predatory alligators lurking within the structure to save him.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
University of Florida swimmer Haley Keller travels to her father Dave's old home in Coral Lake during a Category 5 hurricane. She finds him mauled in the crawl space and attempts to rescue him, but is attacked by alligators. As the house floods, she witnesses looters being devoured by the reptiles. Her father's friend, Wayne, arrives searching for them but is eventually pulled into the crawl space and eaten. Haley manages to kill one alligator using Wayne's gun after discovering a nest in a storm drain. She eventually manages to pull Dave out of the crawl space into the living room using a crowbar. However, a levee break separates them again. Dave is bitten by an alligator, losing his forearm, while Haley traps another in a shower stall. She eventually reaches the attic, stabs an alligator in the eye with a flare, and reunites with her father on the roof. They are rescued by a helicopter signaled by Haley's flare.
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 87
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Alexandre Aja
- Writers
- Michael Rasmussen · writer; Shawn Rasmussen · writer
- Cast and characters
- Kaya Scodelario · Haley Keller; Barry Pepper · Dave Keller; Morfydd Clark · Beth Keller; Ross Anderson · Wayne Taylor; Jose Palma · Pete Flores; Colin McFarlane · The Governor; George Somner · Marv; Anson Boon · Stan
- Genres
- natural horror; thriller
- Themes
- survival; father-daughter relationship; climate change
- Tone and mood
- suspenseful; terrifying; claustrophobic
- Premise and plot tags
- natural disaster; creature feature; home invasion
- Source material / true-story basis
- spec script
- Franchise connections
- Crawl
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews for its action, direction, pacing, and visual effects, being described as a pleasant and terrifying surprise. It was a commercial success, grossing $91 million on a $13.5–15 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 32; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 2.5 · scale: 5
- Awards and nominations
- Best Wide Release · Fangoria Chainsaw Awards · 2020 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was the first Paramount film shot in Serbia.; The design of the alligators was based on a stuffed Mississippi alligator at the American Museum of Natural History and a sheltered alligator in Miami nicknamed "Godzilla".; The scene where Haley goes against instructions was influenced by a scene in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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