We all knew well before this that Florida is a pretty wild place and yes, there are a lot of gators there. But two giant alligators in a crawlspace under a house? And what seems like an entire alligator-infested ocean right outside said house? Didn’t quite see that one coming – even for Florida.

These films are not made to be taken seriously and it’s for that reason alone that I enjoy them so thoroughly. You watch them to get your fill of suspense and hokey dialogue, not to discover the next greatest auteur. Crawl (2019) is like Jaws‘s younger, slightly disappointing sibling hopped up on Ritalin. Alexandre Aja chucks it all at you with no inhibitions. Massive storm, flooding, loss of connection to emergency services and giant, hungry alligators to top it all off. All the odds are against Haley and her father, and yet you just know they will triumph. Despite the fact that an alligator bite has the force of 2960 pounds…

Considering this film was produced in 2019, the CGI still leaves a bit to the imagination. I could quite easily pick out the use of green-screens and rushed integration scattered throughout the piece. The speed at which the catastrophes gain momentum and accumulate truly tests your disbelief. One second they are trapped within a (admittedly severe) storm and then literally within about two seconds they are swimming in a tsunami-like deluge. These people clearly can’t catch a break. Or a wave. Beyond that, the notion of a young woman out-swimming a fully-grown alligator is laughable – even if she is an award-winning freestyler.

Unfortunately the only character I actually cared about not dying was the little dog – sweet pooch that I feared would become alligator bait. I found myself shouting at the screen, daring them to kill off the one character that has any true relatability. The rest are just obsessed with divorce and swimming – yawn. I’m happy to report that the doggo remains alive and well by somehow making it onto the roof of the house where rescue awaits.

But if you can manage to suspend your disbelief for about an hour and a half, then perhaps you are in for a fun, wild ride. And finally, I am a sucker for some sweet polyphonic sound in film so their use of the upbeat, hokey “See You Later, Alligator” song in the credits was tongue-in-cheek enough for me to leave me with a lasting impression.