CRAWL - THE HALLOWEEN HORRORS COLLECTION

By Guest Reviewer The Creepy Concierge 

Australian Noir is back and this time it’s bloody. Home invasion with a touch of Pulp Fiction and No Country For Old Men this jet-black violent comedy   thriller pulls very few punches and slides into the ‘woman alone in house pursued by determined maniac’ sub-genre comfortably. 

Written and directed by Paul China (Night Shift). CRAWL stars Georgina Haig (Paula Yates in INXS: Never Tear us Apart and Etta Bishop in Fringe) as Marilyn Burns (name stealing) as the unfortunate young woman stalked by a Croatian hitman with very little but murder on his mind. 

It’s cat and mouse all the way as the man with the deadly plan deliberately terrorizes the rabbit-in-the-headlights Haig to suitably chilling effect. The unnerving combination of sure-footed stoicism displayed by the villain of the piece takes what could be your garden variety damsel-in-distress flick and turns the volume up a couple of notches. Talking of volume Haig can scream-queen with the rest of them when required and does nothing less than fully committed work here as the lunatic’s unfortunate quarry.

The Coen’s Blood Simple springs to mind when watching this slender but occasionally effective tale but there are one or two little surprises that might catch even the most hardened horror-noir fan off guard. Music is spare, Cinematography is elegantly plain, and production values are good all round but it’s Georgina Haig that really holds it together. Word of warning though if you want your thriller fast and furious this isn’t the pic for you. Long periods of silence interrupt the flow of the narrative and you might be tempted to check your watch during one of these interludes. That said it’s still an effective little pulse-pounder and if you vibe on seventies terror flicks like Pete Walker’s Fright you’ll probably dig this. I do and did.

Watch for free by clicking here  CRAWL or click on W4FREE where you can watch THE HALLOWEEN HORRORS COLLECTION for free and much much more.