“Never smile at a crocodile… or an alligator for that matter.”
Alexander Aja is a rising star on the horror scene, which is not surprising given that he has produced three remakes of popular horror movies, not only that but his remakes tend to be… rather good.
Having directed the remakes of The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Piranha 3D (2011) and Maniac (2013), Aja has proven himself a technically capable filmmaker, as well as one who produces movies that are fun and entertaining. Not to mention, the horror films that he has remade are well-regarded by their avid fanbases and so far the opinion is that they are respectful in their homage to the original and find some semblance of identity separate from their original counterpart. And his latest cinematic outing, Crawl, is no exception.
Crawl, however, is no remake by any stretch. Aja has struck out from remakes and has made a horror movie that is entirely of his own imaginings. Set in Florida during a category 5 hurricane, a young woman must fight to save her injured father from the jaws of three massive, hungry alligators and escape the basement of her flooding house.
The trick would be, this time around, not riding the coattails of another filmmakers work, which as I have mentioned already, Aja does rather well. Aja’s work is an unpretentious exercise in tension and thrills that stands in some contrast to other alligator based horror films. Aja maintains an excellent balance between big scares and the development of his characters, the number of which is kept helpfully low. The claustrophobic atmosphere and setting of a dingy, rapidly flooding cellar also contributes to the nail-biting tensity that keeps you firmly on the edge of your seat. Especially when there’s a big toothy brute leaping out of the water to devour some hapless dope every few minutes.
If this is how Aja handles original concepts such as Crawl, then I imagine he has a bright future as far as scare-flicks go (not that it was ever much in doubt to begin with). But, this is one reviewer who certainly hopes that Aja continues to produce work of this quality in the near future.
