If you must see one alligator home-invasion movie this year, run, don’t walk to Crawl

Crawl is the alligator home-invasion movie you never knew you were waiting for. These hangry reptiles are obscenely mean chomping machines in this genuinely rousing, faintly ridiculous survivalist thriller.

Somehow, Crawl keeps clearing every obstacle placed in front of it.

The leaps taken by this niftily nasty horror movie can be both cleverly thought through and clumsily executed at the same time.

Nevertheless, the fear-inducing fun of it all just never lets up.

There is very little plot to speak of. So little, in fact, that you begin to wonder if Crawl can possibly fill its designated running time of 85 minutes.

A Category 5 hurricane is swirling all over the southern US state of Florida like a possessed spinning top. One minute it is heading out to sea. The next it is reversing course and mowing down every town in its path.

Picture: Paramount

Swimming champ Haley (Kaya Scoledario) has just finished a training session under the impression that the weather outside is on the mend.

Then she learns the killer storm is heading directly for where her estranged father Dave (Barry Pepper) was last seen.

To make matters worse, her old man isn’t answering his phone, and Haley is the sole next-of-kin close enough to drive over and check on him.

By the time she gets there, the township surrounding Dave’s home has been completely evacuated, and the hurricane is too close for anyone to make their escape.

Haley and Dave are going to have to tough out the storm on their own. Actually, let’s revise that statement, shall we?

Haley and Dave are going to have to tough out the storm, but they won’t be on their own.

As flood waters rapidly rise, Haley and Dave are joined by a congregation of hungry, angry alligators.

Kaya Scodelario stars in CRAWL from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Sergej Radović.

These obscenely mean chomping machines have been flushed out of their own home at a nearby farm, and their preferred way of interacting with human beings is turning them into blood-flavoured smoothies.

What follows is a genuinely rousing, faintly ridiculous survivalist thriller where all those lapping waters and snapping jaws combine to induce a state of claustrophobic delirium.

CRAWL (MA15+)

Rating: ***1/2 stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes)

Starring: Kata Scoledario, Barry Pepper.

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