There's a true argument to be made that Quentin Tarantino's best movie is his 2019 hangout comedy, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, but when asked about his personal favorite movie of that year, Tarantino's answer humbly differed from his own masterpiece. Instead, his tastes leaned towards Crawl, that year's hit alligator-centric horror thrill ride. For some who only think of Tarantino as an acclaimed filmmaker, this might come as a surprise.
Is 'Crawl' as Good as Quentin Tarantino Says? How is Crawl really? Is it a truly great movie, or is this just the Pulp Fiction director teasing us? In short, yes, Tarantino picked an incredibly solid creature feature for his number-one movie of the year. For a movie about alligators in a hurricane, Crawl is surprisingly good and more complex than you might think.
Like Many Horror Movies, 'Crawl' Is Rooted in Trauma That being said, Crawl also acts as a fascinating piece of 2010s horror for another reason. A large chunk of this angry alligator movie's runtime is taken up by a family drama subplot that is rooted in childhood trauma. Yes, like many other movies from this decade, horror is being used as a means for our protagonists to figure out and, eventually, work through their trauma.