As time runs out to escape the strengthening storm, Haley and her father discover that the rising water level is the least of their fears. Finding him gravely injured in the crawl space of their family home, the two become trapped by quickly encroaching floodwaters. When a massive hurricane hits her Florida hometown, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) ignores evacuation orders to search for her missing father (Barry Pepper).
That familiar idiom is certainly applicable to Aja’s more recent flicks, “ The 9 th Life of Louis Drax ” and “ Horns ” two that pleasantly surprised many a fan. As they say though, never judge a book by its cover. On top of feeling frighteningly current in today’s climate change context, this film looks outwardly unique. You may well think that doesn’t sound much like a horror, but this is Florida people – she’s got some ferocious, ole alligators to fend off. “Crawl” follows a young woman trapped in a flooding house during a Category 5 hurricane.
READ MORE: The 20 Best Horror Films of 2018 While “ Crawl ” doesn’t rely on a similar premise as “A Quiet Place,” filmmaker Alexandre Aja – a director known for his excessive reliance on a brimming arsenal of cheap and shallow genre tricks – does his best to match the originality of Krasinski’s film.
But none were as inspired as “ A Quiet Place” though, a truly fresh offering by John Krasinski that sits as the best of the bunch. And now the studio brings us “ Crawl.” Regrettably, “ The Cloverfield Paradox ” is mired in its own monstrosity at the bottom of the list. “ Overlord ” and “ Pet Sematary ” are decidedly mixed bags. Paramount Pictures has delivered a mixed bag of horrors over the past year or so, with some being innovative and others standard-issue.