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Crawl ***
Dir: Alexandre Aja (15, 105 mins)
An unashamed B-movie that bastardises Jaws and Lake Placid and countless other monster movies, then throws a hurricane into the midst. Kaya Scodelerio plays Haley Keller, a daughter looking for her dad (Barry Pepper) to try and escape the clutches of a category five hurricane about to hit Florida. As the water rises, she and her father are joined in their flooding home by some alligators and a game of reptile and mouse ensues, as she tries to get her injured father to safety. Director Aja has history with water-bound beasts with his risible Piranha remake. This however promises a more claustrophobic, genuinely intense ride… or swim. The alligators are CGI but Scodelario’s grit is human and director Aja is not going for laughs, more an effective thrill ride, similar to the effective shark bait film The Shallows with Blake Lively. The alligators are no longer in the swamps but in the house, chomping at any potential meal. It’s a simple premise, well executed and better than last year’s The Meg. Opens Aug 23