Crawl (Alexandre Aja)

[TGM]

CRAWL

Director: Alexandre Aja

imdb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8364368/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1)

[Ezee E]

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but those low expectations were not met.

I'm shocked this got theatrical distribution. It should easily be a movie that you skip over at Netflix among many other horror movies that try to imitate others.

I'm glad Barry Pepper is still acting. Hope he gets better work.

[Grouchy]

Well, I'm not sure what you were expecting either, I personally had a blast. First Aja film I've really liked, since I'm one of those guys who think High Tension's twist ending retroactively kills the movie. I mean, it's a Horror film about surviving an encounter with crocodiles. I was just happy it was short, well written and taut.

[Skitch]

First Aja film I've really liked, since I'm one of those guys who think High Tension's twist ending retroactively kills the movie.

You're correct. And it's a twist I saw coming 2 miles away. On repeat viewing, it's so disappointing he took that route when the non-twist version wouldve been plenty scary and satisfying.

[Irish]

Vote is 2-2.

I heard good word of mouth so I need a tiebreaker here.

Aja is a mixed bag but there was enough about "High Tension" that was truly great that he always deserves at least a glance. (But Grouchy is right about the ending.)

[TGM]

I just thought this movie was relentlessly lame from start to finish. At no point did it even begin to win me over. *shrug*

[megladon8]

Vote is 2-2.

I heard good word of mouth so I need a tiebreaker here.

Aja is a mixed bag but there was enough about "High Tension" that was truly great that he always deserves at least a glance. (But Grouchy is right about the ending.)

It’s one of the most maddening twist endings I have ever seen.

The entire movie is broken by a completely failed attempt to be clever.

If it had stayed a straight forward slasher flick, it would have been one of the best out there.

[Irish]

If it had stayed a straight forward slasher flick, it would have been one of the best out there.

Yep, totally agree. Dude ruined his own movie. Which fucking kills me because the slasher elements are really damned good. But the lame twist consumes the film & from the day it was released until today, it's all anyone talks about.

[Ezee E]

Forgot how High Tension ended...

[Ivan Drago]

I had fun with this for it's duration. It doesnt have the character work of other films in its subgenre, but it makes good use of its runtime, crafts effective suspense throughout & the creature effects are awesome. Another successful grindhouse blockbuster from Paramount in my eyes.

[Grouchy]

Forgot how High Tension ended...
The killer didn't really exist outside the woman's head and I guess she spent the entire movie throwing herself from places and getting hurt by her own means.

[Dukefrukem]

The killer didn't really exist outside the woman's head and I guess she spent the entire movie throwing herself from places and getting hurt by her own means.

Nitpick.

She was never hurt by the killer (except indirectly from the car crash)

I stand by this being a good movie.

[Dukefrukem]

Also, anticipating this movie on VOD, I watched Rogue. Decent. Not great. Not terrible.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFx00dpfApQ

[Peng]

Weirdly not very stylish for an Aja film and thus my least favorite that I've seen so far from him (High Tension >= The Hill Have Eyes > Piranha > this), but still lean, mean straightforward creature feature fun. And I kind of adore how it ends, which feels exemplary of the film's no-frills attitude, dispensing with any sappy epilogue typical of this genre and sending you out the doors once it's done delivering the goods. 6/10

[Irish]

3-2!

Renting it.

[Irish]

Yeah. This was a mistake.

Since Aja already did his bit with "Piranha 3D," I wonder why he felt the need to make this.

I guess my biggest beef is that the movie had a good start and a great premise, but then didn't capitalize on either. Too many of the beats were formulaic. (Although, I did like that the lead chick resents both her father and her sister, but goes to check on Dad after a phone call from Sis.)

The rest of it ... meh. They showed the gators too early and they didn't look that good. For a monster to work the fucking monster must be interesting (a lesson I thought Aja woulda learned with the aforementioned "Piranha"). The gators here have no personality, and I couldn't tell one from the other. They're the villains and there isn't anything special about them.

Aside from that the setting was cool but too limiting (and also visually boring). I didn't expect much but because that cellar / crawlspace was so generic I could never tell where one character was in relation to the other, or the gators, or the outside. It made the movie more confusing, and less interesting, than necessary.

Granted, my expectations were higher than normal because I was really hoping for another fun knock-off like that Blake Lively shark movie.

[Ezee E]

The Blake Lively movie was one of the bigger surprises in quite a while. Utilized more than the shark... Something that Crawl didn't really do.

[Dukefrukem]

Awe man. I wanted to like this really bad. Totally agree with Irish's assessment. It started off totally fine and just went nowhere.

[Wryan]

I liked Rogue a lot, actually. Prob wont see this for a while.

[Scar]

Sounds like I’ll wait until this is in the bargain bin.



..,and I like Haute Tension.

[Scar]

I caved and picked this up.


I’m glad I did. I expected a creature flick, and I got a great creature flick.


Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to contemplate going ‘gator hunting.

[Skitch]

I really want to try gator meat.