Crawl (2019 film)

Crawl is a 2019 American natural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, written by brothers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen, and produced by Sam Raimi. It stars Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper as a daughter and father who, along with their dog, find themselves trapped in the crawl space of their home and preyed upon by alligators during a Category 5 hurricane in Florida.

Aja rewrote the original spec script from the Rasmussen brothers to expand the length of the story and its characters. The film was officially announced in May 2018, and production started in Serbia in August with cinematographer Maxime Alexandre. The film was primarily shot within a warehouse facility located in the Port of Belgrade and wrapped shooting after 41 days in September. During post-production, the film score was composed by Max Aruj and Steffen Thum, and visual effects such as the alligators were produced by Rodeo FX. It took three months to complete the visual effects.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures, Crawl opted out of conventional film screenings for critics and premiered in the United States on July 12, 2019. The film grossed $91.5 million against a $13–15 million production budget. It was met with generally positive reviews for its direction, pacing, and visual effects, and earned a nomination for Best Wide Release at the 2020 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. In April 2021, after growing speculation, Aja confirmed a sequel was in development.