Crawl or Die (2014)
Earth as we know it is gone. A virus has destroyed the planet and rendered all its women infertile, all but one. An elite team of soldiers are tasked with bringing the woman to safety on the newly habitable Earth Two. But when they are forced underground they find themselves fighting for survival from an bloodthirsty creature in a maze of ever shrinking tunnels. As the team's ranks start to dwindle, the tunnels shrink and the ammunition run out, the crawl for survival becomes more and more desperate.
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Very disappointing...
Sadly Over-hyped
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
**Spoilers** The first time I saw this I was a little bit underwhelmed due to the lack of script/dialogue (apart from the speech about a girl being the only remaining fertile female left), but then realised that once "Tank" was the only survivor and she was going from tunnel to tunnel with ever decreasing space, I realised that dialogue wasn't necessary and it became a total tension festival for her (and for the viewer).I don't think I have ever seen a film where the feeling of claustrophobia has been done so well (even The Descent didn't manage that) and when you think of the extremely limited budget, it is even more impressive. At times I was just begging for her to be able to get some air/space/anything to stop the nightmare!Nicole Alonso & Oklahoma Ward ought to be very proud of what they have created & I, for one, can't wait for the continuation of the story.My work colleagues all agreed that it was an incredibly tense film & very good.Watch it, stick with it & be impressed ..... I was!
Crawl Or Die is an indie gem. I ran across it on Amazon and was intrigued by the premise and the poster. What sealed the deal for me was the fact that Oklahoma Ward, the director, made himself available for questions on the IMDb message board. Brave move to connect with an audience at that level. It makes me respect the guy and gives me insight to the fact that he is very proud of his movie.As he should be. This film was clearly made with fun in mind. The opening title card appears 17 minutes into the film with a freeze frame and a single word, "CRAWL", establishing what you can expect for the rest of the movie. As the seemingly endless tunnel grows narrower, the focus of the film narrows to Tank, a badass member of a special rescue team charged with protecting the last fertile woman on earth. There is an alien monster fast on the heels of the crawlers, but the real menace is the the tunnel itself, which is harrowing and relentlessly claustrophobic. Typically, tunnel scenes in movies are shot with cutaways or are designed over-sized in order to accommodate proper Hollywood lighting. Not here. Ward wisely keeps the camera inside the tunnel with the actors. At times it's dark and hard to see what's happening. Other times it's disorienting. There are no scenes outside the tunnel, and that's what makes it feel as if we are also enduring this nightmare. For over 60 minutes we get no relief from the dread of the ever-tightening tunnels or the uncertainty of what lies ahead. There is a point where Tank must make an important decision regarding the "package". It is a startling but honest reaction. It's the kind of moment that wouldn't happen in a big-budget Hollywood production, but a risk that is worth taking by an indie filmmaker.Kudos also to Nicole Alonso for conveying a real sense of determination and strength and while putting herself through what looked like a very grueling and painful ordeal.Crawl Or Die won't appeal to a mass audience, nor is that its intention, but it's a great way to spend 90 claustrophobic minutes feeling like you are a part of the action and wondering if you could survive.
While being a big fan of scary movies, this one was new to me and the experience was new as well. I agree whatever is chasing them is scary the real nightmare for me was the thought of the tunnel getting tighter and tighter as everyone keeps moving forward. How many of us haven't had to squeeze into a closet or sit in a small chair or ride a packed bus or subway. The movie conveys the feeling of being squeezed in with excellent effect. I didn't rank it very high because the movie in my opinion was very simply (not much plot), but the feeling of anxiety stuck with me through out the film, as well as the curiosity of where the tunnel was going to end, if it was going to end. If you catch yourself nosing through on line video selections or scrolling through your cable TV menu and see this one, Stop and check this one out.
The future... A team of soldiers try to make their way out of a maze of underground tunnels while being hunted down by a deadly creature. A relentless and grim indiefilm, reminiscent of The Decent, in terms of tight spaces, part homage to Alien with it's creature design. It's a dark film with tight metal shafts, torch lit, choking soil filled tunnels as Tank and company try to find there way out.Lead Nicole Alonso's performance as Tank and costume peaks interest, Torey Byrne and David Paul Baker are notable.The practical creature design deserve a mention being well hidden until the closing act. Given the nature of the film the dialogue is sparse and the sound design is effective. Director Oklahoma Ward's Crawl or Die (a.k,a Alien Crawl) is a slow burning low budget feature that will certainly disturb claustrophobics. It does a lot with its limited budget.Worth checking out if you like the likes of The Dark Lurking (2010),Hunter Prey (2009), Cargo (2009), Crawlspace (2012).