Crawl - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Crawl



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Crawl was one of those Paramount flicks that I LOVED when it came out on Blu-ray four years ago (HERE), but sadly was not able to review it here when the film got a fairly quiet 4K release last year. But luckily for us Paramount Pictures is releasing a wonderfully nice Paramount Scares boxset with this, the newly released Rosemary's Baby, Pet Sematary 1989, Smile (which I also haven't reviewed up until now), and a "mystery title" that I'll release the info with tomorrow's release day of the set. Thanks to them we were able to acquire a copy of the boxset to review, and thus I'm able to finally review the 4K version of Crawl for you all.

Creature features are a bit love of mine going all the way back to the the classics, like Creature from the Black Lagoon. There’s just something intensely exciting about a big nasty monster coming out of nowhere and terrorizing us poor humans. I especially like overgrown beasts that exist in reality, so I was kind of hoping that Crawl would turn out to be a fun film. Sadly the world of monster movies has essentially devolved into SyFy channel movies like Sharknado, or the silliness and over the top gore of the Piranha movies. I mean, they have their place in entertainment, but I love a good tense thriller, and was greatly surprised to find that Crawl hit all of the right spots. An intense monster, good acting, and a lean run time that doesn’t bog itself down with extraneous characters and poorly placed humor.

Collegiate swimmer Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) gets a call from her sister Beth (Morfydd Clark) regarding their estranged father Dave (Barry Pepper), who is living alone out in South Florida. There’s a category 5 hurricane coming his way, and Dave isn’t picking up his phone. Frustrated at her father, Haley decides to go down to their childhood home and check on him, only to find him seemingly missing. Investigating further Haley finds her father under the house in the basement, badly wounded and unconscious. Attempting to pull her father back up into the house where she can get him to a hospital, the two are confronted with the REASON that her father is lying wounded in the basement. A gigantic gator who drives the two back behind a set of pipes where they are temporarily safe.

With the water levels rising from the storm, and the gator on the outside of the pipes, Dave and Haley have to figure out a way to get out of there, stat. The only thing is, there’s not one, but SEVERAL gators who have crawled into the basement and they’re not about to let Haley get out of there easily. With time running out, the water climbing higher, and more gators milling around outside, Haley’s window to save herself and her father is slowly closing.

Crawl can be described in just a few words. Intense, thrilling, non stop tension, and a lean run time that keeps the bloat at bay. Haley is set up with some mild character development at the beginning of the movie, but within 10 minutes we’re completely immersed in the terrifying story. Director Aja and the Rasmussen brothers doe a fantastic job at keeping the tension high without feeling like it’s just another dumb story without a plot. The rare bits of downtime allow Haley and Dave to develop their characters a little, but fear not, this is not some talk heavy drama. The action is literally nonstop, and once the firt gator drops down into the basement to confront Haley, that sense of dread and heart pounding excitement doesn’t let go of you.

While there’s a few other characters in the film (usually to get munched on), this is a two character movie. Dave and Haley take up 99% of the human interaction, and it works to the advantage of the film. The two of them (and the gators) are right in your view the entire time, leaving very little downtime to get to know other people, thus you’re constantly worried and invested in their survival (well, along with their dog, cuz no one wants the pup to get eaten). The underground basement scenario that the two are put in is absolutely perfect too. It’s a maze of pipes and dirty caverns and hideaways that make it perfect for the two humans to try and stay reasonably safe from the giant gators who are too big to fit in some places. Luckily the entire film doesn’t stay there, allowing for them to mix things up a bit, and the constant filling up of water changes the advantages for both the creatures and the humans several times throughout the movie.




Rating:
Rated R for bloody creature violence, and brief language




4K Video: Video:

I’m not sure if Crawl was originally given a 4K master for the Blu-ray release in 2019, or if they did a new master for this release, but the 4K UHD of the creature feature comes from a native 4K digital intermediate that is a hefty upgrade over the already amazing looking Blu-ray. It’s visually sharper, shows off less banding the Blur-ray, and despite the massively heavy blue/gray tinge that the film employs in the depths of a dark water filled basement, is really impressive to behold. It’s the Dolby Vision/HDR application that is the real winner here though. Sure, there’s some textural details that look nicer under water, or the wet bricks of the basement walls are sharper, but those black levels are ABSOLUTELY paramount in the image. Bright colors in the daylight pop with intensity (the red paint of a sports car), and the shadowy world of the underground basement Haley and her father are hiding in are just so inky and revealing. No banding, almost no crush, and this dark dark picture straining image looks GORGEOUS in 4K.






Audio:

Being that this is a direct port of the 2019 Blu-ray's audio track, my thoughts below will be identical to what I thought back when I reviewed the Blu-ray

This is an absolutely INSANE sounding audio mix. For such an atmospheric movie I was really hoping that Paramount would release an Atmos track for the home video release, but I guess without a 4K UHD disc they didn’t feel the need. Still, this is nothing to sneeze at as the 7.1 mix is a ridiculously aggressive mix that can cause the listener to literally leap out of their seats. The storm is literally all around you the entire time, and that means the surrounds and mains are HEAVILY utilized throughout the film. Still, they’re not so over the top as to be overbearing, but believe you me, those surrounds pretty much never stop with the cacophony of rain, cracking boards, and rumbling of alligators from beginning to end. The bass is jaw dropping, as the storm allows for some pretty crazy moments, but it’s the alligators that really bring home the pain. That first encounter where Haley comes face to face with one lets the listener in to what they’re in for the rest of the film. Luckily the bass is really really tight and clean, shaking the house down to the foundations, but never seeming bloated and one note (ish).

One point of contention that I must make is the dialog. It’s mixed about 4 DB’s lower than normal. Meaning you either have to boost the center in your receiver, or just raise the volume 4 DB’s on the receiver. This puts the rest of the track a bit on the hot side, but with the insanity of the storm that sort of drowning out of the vocals seems to fit in with the motif. Still, dialog is still very intelligible, and the dynamic range is beyond ridiculous, but I would have preferred the dialog to be a bit more balanced than it was with the rest of the track.







Extras:

• Introduction to Alternate Opening
• Alternate Opening
• Alligator Attacks
• Beneath Crawl - Featurette
• Category 5 Gators: The VFX of Crawl - Featurette
• Deleted and Extended Scenes

Final Score: ​

Just like in 2019, Crawl was a surprise to me that was MORE than welcome. Intense, brutal, and filled with some great action sequences, the creature feature ended up being one of my most enjoayble watches of 2019, and luckly now, on 4K UHD four years later as well. The Blu-ray was fantastic in terms of audio/video, and the 4K UHD replicates that with a new 2160p transfer, as well as the unbeliavably intenset Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track from the Blu-ray (along with all the extras). Unfortuantely it also followed suit with Paramount and Warner's recent practice of eliminating the Blu-ray from the set, so fans may want to keep their older Blu-rays if they're intent on having a combo pack like we have become accustomed to over the last decade and a half. All in all, a great release that is part of a fantastic boxset (full review of the boxset will come shortly). Highly reccomended as a fun watch


Technical Specifications:
Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson, Jose Palma, George Somner, Anson Boon
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Written by: Shawn and Michael Rasmussen
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, German, Spanish (Latin), Spanish (Castilian, Japanese, French DD 5.1
English, English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 88 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: September 22nd, 2022

Recommendation: Very Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Very interesting movie. I didn't catch this back then but will check it out.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I should rewatch this at some point. I downloaded to my phone back then to watch on a flight and enjoyed it more than expected. I should check it out in the theater one of these days.

 

[Michael Scott]

I should rewatch this at some point. I downloaded to my phone back then to watch on a flight and enjoyed it more than expected. I should check it out in the theater one of these days.

the audio experience is worth it alone. it has a CRAZY LFE mix on it.

 

[Todd Anderson]

This is definitely a fun flick to watch. Check your brain at the door, tho! ;-)