My dear readers, I must apologize profusely for sounding like one of those tiresome individuals who grouses about matters over which one has little control but I find myself compelled to mention my dissatisfaction with the weather as of late. I had been hoping for a spot of snow to start off this holiday season in a proper fashion and so far there has been none in sight. It could be that Jack Frost has become little more than a mythical layabout or perhaps this “global” warmth one hears so much about can be credited for a sorry lack of icy accumulation. Whatever the cause may be, my despair over these conditions led me to try an incantation or two from my sweet Penny Dee’s personal grimoire. Alas, my Sumerian is not what it used to be and due to a few botched pronunciations, there is now a chilly little downpour in our foyer. Fortunately, we have been able to receive guests and holiday well-wishers at the side entrance but the damper on household morale has been palpable and the effects on the floorboards are hardly any better.

Haley (Kaya Scodelario) is all too familiar with spells of bad weather. She is an aspiring collegiate swimmer in the State of Florida and her rigorous athletic routine has been temporarily upended by news of an approaching tempest, one so forceful that residents have been encouraged to temporarily vacate their abodes and seek shelter elsewhere. Immediately, Haley’s thoughts fly to her father Dave (Barry Pepper), a stubborn character who may very well ignore the wisdom of state authorities. She checks on him before ensuring her own safety and sure enough, Dave has decided to take this time to board up a few vents. While ordinary fellows might decide the moment for preventive measures had passed, Dave feels he should squeeze in these last little patches before the “category five” hurricane peaks. 

His relationship with Haley has cooled as of late and this storm-born reunion gets off to a rocky start. Once her coach, Dave no longer advises her in any official capacity and yet is incapable of discussing anything aside from her swimming career. Fortunately, another conversational topic pops up in the form of enormous alligators that swarm Dave’s crawlspace. Buoyed by the rising water levels, these hearty reptilian specimens seem quite fixed on Haley and her poor father and simply will not allow them to leave the basement. Being burdened with this disagreeable interspecific company would be bad enough on its own but the problem is really compounded by a rather serious flooding problem that poses a threat to any non-amphibians hanging about the house’s lower levels.

While director Alexandre Aja is primarily known for tales of excruciating violence, Crawl finds him wading into surprisingly sentimental territory. On the surface, perhaps, there are oversized creatures and flashy disaster effects but at its core, Mr. Aja’s latest film is about the unbreakable bonds between father and daughter. In this particular case, neither emotional nor physical trauma can sever their connection. When Haley first comes across her father, he has been mauled horribly, his open wounds marinating in a mixture of rainwater and septic overflow. Throughout the film, he will be drained, drowned and dismembered, losing more than a few pints of the good old red stuff in the process. Just one of these setbacks might be enough to cause someone to lose consciousness, if not their lives altogether. But for Dave and Haley, the paternal link is so strong that not even death can come between them. It is a timely holiday reminder of both the importance of family and boarding one’s vents in advance.

Crawl runs 87 minutes and is rated R for bloody creature violence and brief language.