Move more, clones Jaws – Crawl is here to claim the summer season of movies for reptiles

Admittedly, there are only a few places where a lean idiot can slip into the jaws of a happy alligator, which is why Crawl is located in Florida, a natural habitat of this real monster. As its title says, most of the film takes place in a crawl space, the lower level of a Sunshine State home shaken by adverse weather conditions. Haley (Kaya Scodelario), swimming champion in college, is stuck in this treacherous basement. She comes to find her recently divorced father, Dave (Barry Pepper), unconscious and injured in the depths of the property. The culprits: hungry and oversized alligators, sliding in the darkness. They do not have to worry about this besieged family unit. A Category 5 hurricane hits the area, slowly flooding the house and blocking escape routes. If the gators do not kill both, the rising water may well occur.

The director, Alexandre Aja, has already discovered a danger in this drink. Ten years ago, he released a remake of Joe Dante, in 3D, scandalously gore. Piranha, putting a bunch of nubile Spring-Breakers on the menu. Crawl do not skimp on carnage – these rows of brittle teeth cause bloody damage to vulnerable appendages. But it's not a fun party. Aja, a French crane dealer who rarely repeats himself, instead made a thin survival thriller. The naked plot takes place in the form of a series of heartbreaking goals: connect to the phone, grab the radio, open the hatch, reach the boat. The space, nauseatedly limited within the same environment, becomes a factor X in the struggle of man against nature; Haley and Dave may be dangerously stuck in a perpetual stalemate, but they are also sometimes saved from close range, because of their ability to sneak into tight spaces and bend in ways that their fearsome opponents can not .

Produced by evil Dead Honcho Sam Raimi, Crawl This is kind of fun, but it's not as well stupid. The gators, convincingly summoned from the digital gene pool, may be cunning, even by the stealthy standards of this species: they know exactly when to hold their whistles and grunt for a fear of the jump. very timely. But they are neither too big nor too unstoppable nor too intelligent; you would not want to confuse them for the escapees of The sea of ​​a deep blue laboratory. Humans, on the other hand, do not make obviously stupid decisions, but simply to advance the plot or rush into further danger. They make get rid of a lot of serious injuries, even managing to block their respective conversations by holding their gaping wounds / stumps. (Those who hope for gnarly killings will be relieved to learn that Crawl provides many unreliable support characters, including unfortunate rescuers and a trio of thieves who ransack a flooded gas station on the street – a centerpiece that allows Aja to play sneaky actions in distance and in the background. )

But about these conversations. If anything holds this modest craft boiler from the true glory of movie B, it's the human drama. The scenario of brothers Michael and Shawn Rasumssen (The room), presents the battle of Haley and Dave against the elements as a therapeutic ordeal endured in the symbolically underground space of the old family home. Will the two escape not only the hungry gators, but also the resentment that has forced them to make their way through the years? Will my father's heartfelt encouragement, inspired by the memories of the time when he was still a swim coach for Haley, be helpful in this experience? It's a pure formula, but the emotional motivations of The socks and The mega. Shark or alligator, no leviathan can compete with the sadness of a tortured family past.