Kaya Scodelario plays Haley, a champion swimmer who’s still
trying to insure she stays on the team. After a practice she gets a call from
her sister Beth asking if she’s heard from their father. Haley hadn’t gotten
the word yet that a major hurricane has shifted and is headed their direction.
Beth hasn’t been able to reach their father and wants Haley to go check on him.
She drives through the pouring rain and makes her way to her
place to pick up her dog first. She then heads to her father’s place. Searching
the house she finds his phone but no dad. The door to the crawlspace beneath
the house is open so she goes looking for him. Finding her father (Barry Pepper)
wounded, she tries to drag him to the steps only to find a full grown alligator
blocking her way and hungry to finish off the pair.
She makes her way back behind some pipes that prevent the
alligator from reaching them. Resuscitating her father she learns that he was
beneath the house trying to block some holes before heading out when he was
attacked. The alligator came up through the drainage pipe. Now the pair need to
find a way out while avoiding the alligator.
Haley sees her cell phone and realizes she can call for help
if she can just get to it and avoid the alligator. As she reaches it she discovers that he’s not
alone and a second alligator is in the crawlspace with them. She’s attacked and
wounded and loses the phone, but finds a safe area to hide in. Now it’s just
finding a way to either get help or escape from beneath the house without being
eaten alive.
In addition to the duo in jeopardy a sub-story focuses on
the father/daughter relationship between the two. They’ve had problems in the past
and she’s blamed herself for the divorce her parents went through. Between
moments of finding escape the pair discuss the reality of what caused this to
happen and rediscover one another.
So does the movie work? Can you make an alligator
frightening? Absolutely. Director Alexander Aja (known for his work on THE
HILLS HAVE EYES remake, MIRRORS and PIRANHA 3D) brings his skill with creating
a tense film within the confines of a small location. Almost the entire film
takes place beneath the house with a few scenes and the last 15 minutes or so
taking place upstairs. And all of it taking place in the midst of a hurricane.
When the film ends you’ll check your fingers to see if they’ve pruned having
watched so much water cascade through the house.
To make a movie truly frightening takes skill and not
overdoing the revelations of the creature in question. That was one of the
things that made JAWS such a great film. It wasn’t seeing the shark from start
to finish but the build up to the point where it was finally seen. Aja does the
same here but does end up showing it more than that film. The alligators are
all CGI but not overused. It makes them believable in the situation here and
all the more frightening. The alligators also have a tendency to show up unexpectedly
throughout the film as well creating a number of “jump” scenes that will have
anyone sitting close to your TV leaping back as they pop out.
Scodelario makes a credible heroine and loyal daughter who
finds the time in the midst of potential tragedy to make peace with her father.
Pepper, known for roles in films like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and THE GREEN MILE,
plays his role mostly injured from start to finish but brings that
believability factor into play as Scodelario’s father. With the exception of a few
other characters who mostly become lunch for the alligators, the film is
carried by these two and they do a great job of it.
While this may not be spooks and ghosts, goblins and ghouls,
it does offer a nice frightening movie that can be enjoyed for the month of
October. The film is rated R for violence and it is quite gory at times. If
your children have no problem with that, or with going near water to swim
anytime soon, then pre-teens might enjoy this one. I found it a treat and could
easily watch it again.
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