This week sees the release of the creature feature Crawl, a high-tension alligator movie that will have you on the very edge of your seat. Kaya Scodelario leads the cast of the film as young swimming ace Hayley who loses contact with her father Dave (Barry Pepper) during a category 5 hurricane in Florida. Having not being able to get hold of him by telephone, she travels back to her home town to track Dave down.
Paramount Pictures
Unfortunately for Hayley, she soon finds herself stuck in a flooded house, the water all around her slowly starting to rise all around her. Throw into the mix a bunch of hungry alligators and you’ve got yourself one of the most nail-biting thrillers of the year.
Ahead of the film’s release on Friday, we take a look at three kick-ass alligator/croc movies to get you in the mood for Crawl.
Lake Placid (1999)
It is hard to believe that Lake Placid was released a whopping twenty years ago this year. This kick-ass thriller revolves around a small town in Maine which are being terrorised by a massive saltwater crocodile. The movies, which spawned a number of sequels in the years that followed, follows the inhabitants of the town as they set about trying to kill the reptile that is unrelenting in trying to kill them.
Lake Placid features a superb cast, including the likes of Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, and Brendan Gleeson, all on top form.
Hard to believe that this came also from the pen of David E. Kelley, the creator of Ally McBeal and Picket Fences, but it is. Great watch, great movie… and it hasn’t aged a day.
Rogue (2007)
Fast-forward eight years and across to a different continent for our next recommendation. Rogue was made and set in Australia and comes to the screen from Greg McLean, the talented filmmaker behind the superb Wolf Creek two years earlier. Rogue also centers around a man-eating croc, one who preys upon a bunch of tourists down under. Again, this one features a well-known cast, including Radha Mitchell and Sam Worthington.
The film received some pretty positive reviews when it first hit cinemas, but dived at the box-office taking just $4.6 million from a reported $25 million budget.
Rogue is definitely worth seeking out, particularly for its high intensity and jump scares that are scattered about. McLean is on top for too, riding high after his striking debut.
Alligator (1980)
We jump back a few decades for our final film on the list, a 1980 B-movie classic that you’ll really have to try hard to track down. Alligator is glorious, a film that follows a baby alligator that is flushed down a Chicago toilet, feasting on infected lab rats to survive in the city’s sewers. As you may imagine, the drugs that the rats have been injected affect the ‘gator in a way that makes him grow considerably in size. Become too big for the sewer system, the alligator escapes into the city wreaking havoc on anyone who gets in its way.
Critics weren’t particularly kind to Alligator when it was first release, but its one of those movies that I remember vividly from when I was growing up, and is an absolutely perfect watch leading up to catching Crawl. Seek it.
