With a hurricane moving towards Florida, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) goes in search of her father Dave (Barry Pepper) at their old home. Finding him in the crawlspace of the house they are trapped by deadly alligators as the flood waters come in.

Crawl is the sort of high concept creature feature that will have horror and thriller fans grinning ear to ear. It’s a perfect blend of jump scares, tongue-in-cheek humour, wilful disregard for animal behaviour and wince inducing gore wrapped in a taught 87 minute running time.

The set up is economical and lean. We are introduced to Haley at a swim meet where we get to see her swimming prowess, learn that her dad used to be her coach and that they haven’t spoken for some time. A worried call from her sister sends her into the eye of the storm and the crawlspace in question. Director Alejandro Aja then uses the claustrophobic spaces and ticking clock of the flooding building to ratchet up the tension.

From that point it’s great fun. The gore and animal attacks are well orchestrated and some moments are clearly played for laughs as a pressure valve release. Whilst not an alligator expert I can confidently say that the animals behaviour is wilfully muddled to suit the film and whilst I’m sure this might enrage some, if fully embraced it adds to the fun. The acting is on point as well. With both Scodelario (best known for Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge) and Pepper turning in admirable efforts as the embattled heroes.

Reminiscent of Lake Placid and The Shallows this is well worth checking out.