20 2010s Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die
18. Crawl
Plot: A young woman (Kaya Scodelario) and her father (Barry Pepper) struggle to survive a brutal swarm of alligators in the middle of a hurricane.
Crawl is the finest aquatic monster movie since Jaws.
Fine, that's a big statement, but Crawl more than justifies it. Buoyed by brutal gore, superb sound-design and great directing from French horror maestro Alexandre Aja, Crawl is a genuinely frightening, heart-in-mouth thrill ride that feels like the movie most other monster movies so desperately wanted to be. Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper both give strong leading performances as well.
It has a gently self-aware, B-Movie vibe but it never sacrifices thrills for goofy comedy, making this a perfectly-judged film in terms of tone. It cannot be emphasized enough how satisfying it is to see a creature feature that's actually scary and, for once, effectively mixes light-heartedness with genuine suspense.
If horror fans let this one pass them by, they're missing out on one hell of a treat.