'Crawl' Trailer: Hungry Hungry Gators (In A House) Menace Kaya Scodelario

What happens when you flood a house during a hurricane, and then throw some alligators into the mix? You get Crawl, a new, deliciously goofy horror-thriller from producer Sam Raimi and director Alexandre Aja. The high-concept premise traps a young woman (Kaya Scodelario) and her father (Barry Pepper) in a house during a Florida hurricane. The house is slowly filling up with water, but that's the least of their problems. A congregation of alligators (I looked it up – that's the term for a group of gators) has invaded the water-logged residence, and they're hungry. Watch the Crawl trailer below.

Yes, I'm in. This premise + this trailer = something I very much want to see. Crawl has a wacky premise, but what I love about this trailer is the fact that everyone seems to be taking this "alligators in a house!" idea very seriously. And that's exactly how you should handle a film like this. Play it completely straight-faced, without winking at the audience. Here's the synopsis:

When a massive hurricane hits her Florida hometown, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) ignores evacuation orders to search for her missing father (Barry Pepper). Finding him gravely injured in the crawl space of their family home, the two become trapped by quickly encroaching floodwaters. As time runs out to escape the strengthening storm, Haley and her father discover that the rising water level is the least of their fears.

I only have one concern here: that dog Scodelario brings to the house better not get eaten by those gators. The killer reptiles can chow down on all the human meat they want, but if they end up eating that dog, I'll be pissed. Take heed, Crawl.

Director Alexandre Aja has been hit or miss for me for a while. He's a wonderful visual stylist – his films look great, but they often leave me a bit cold. Or worse, he throws in a last-minute twist that sinks the entire thing (I'm looking at you, High Tension). But Crawl looks undeniably fun – the type of high-concept, mid-budget horror we need a lot more of. And this trailer is a hell of a lot of fun. I particularly like how it keeps the film's monsters a secret for a few scenes, implying something supernatural might be afoot. And then it just gives up and says, "Okay, whatever, it's alligators."

Crawl takes a bite out of theaters July 12, 2019. Please enjoy this spectacularly silly poster.