A Biting Suspense Thriller with All Too Believable Assassins.

Kaleidoscope's newest is on Paramount's & Raimi Production's film of "Crawl".  Directed by Alexandre Aja, the movie stars Kaya Scodelario, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson, & Barry Pepper.  Rated 'R', it has a running time of 1 hr., 27 min.

The setting is Florida during prime hurricane season.  The prologue provides the exposition detailing University of Florida student Haley (Scodelario), a Division I swimmer, who has been coached throughout her career by her dad Dave (Pepper).  Dad & mom are divorced; she is on a European vacation with her new beau or, as Haley sardonically calls him, 'Prince Charming'.  Haley has been calling her dad who is not answering his phone.  After talking on the phone to her sister Beth (Clark), who advises Haley that a Category 5 hurricane is approaching Florida, Haley decides to drive to check on her dad.  Avoiding a police roadblock, she reaches her dad's condominium.  No one is there except for Dave's dog Sugar.  Haley then decides to see if her dad is at his old house in Coral Lake; she drives there.  Once again, she avoids a police roadblock--this one partially staffed by her childhood friend, Wayne (Anderson), & arrives at her dad's house.  She enters the house with Sugar &, after checking through the home, descends into the crawlspace underneath the domicile.  Act I closes as this occurs; to apprise of anything further would be revealing too much.

This is a taut, succinct thriller ably helmed by Aja--a veteran of such films ('Horns', 'Mirrors' & 'The Hills Have Eyes' reboot).  He keeps his camera fluid; many times, the action 's POV is from the alligators'.  This is Carpenter-influenced & well-done.  The claustrophobic aspect pervades acts II & III, heightening suspense & the increasing desperation of the characters' psyche.  Michael & Shawn Rasmussen's screenplay is extremely focused in the numerous action sequences.  While the dialogue is predominantly banal in nature, one does not look for Mamet or Tarantino-type discourse in a genre film.  The situations are briskly written & achieve their goal.  Scodelario, previously of the 'Maze Runner franchise', is well cast as a daughter who, although she was not given as much personal attention by her parents as she was growing, displays a fierce devotion to her dad that drives her quest despite the dangers inherent.  Pepper is excellent as the dad who was solely focused on training his daughter in her developing years--now realizing that he may lose what precious time he may have left with her.  He is a veteran character actor who is believable in the role.  Both Clark & Anderson are fine in their limited roles.  Maxime Alexandre's cinematography & Elliot Greenberg's editing keep the audience riveted to the screen action.

I give "Crawl" 8 out of 10 nuggets.  This is a solid genre effort bolstered by fine acting & a premise that is especially unnerving to us Floridians--in fact, to everyone.  Run or swim to your nearest theater for a 'whizz by' 87 minutes.