With the calendar flipping to September, it is officially spooky season, and as though genre fans didn't have enough to be excited about regarding upcoming horror movies set to premiere in the next couple months, there are also a lot of anticipated scares on the horizon. One project in the latter category is Crawl 2, which was announced last month, and it's not only sporting a cool story idea, but it also has a director on board who has basically been putting pieces of the project together in his head for the last five years.
After making Crawl, one of the best horror movies of 2019, filmmaker Alexandre Aja is back at the helm for the developing Crawl 2, and when I spoke with him late last month during the Los Angeles press junket for his latest movie, Never Let Go, he shared great excitement for the sequel. I asked what he was excited to explore with the follow-up that he didn't get the opportunity to do in the making of the original gator-filled horror fest, and Aja explained that he is brimming with ideas due to the fact that he continues to work on his movies after they're released:
There [are] so many things that I felt could be more developed. I have this thing: when I finish a movie, somehow I keep, in a weird way, keep walking on that movie, even if it's over. I cannot do anything about it anymore, but I'm still like, 'Oh, this is a great location for that. No! But the movie's done!' But I'm looking for another location.
I imagine that this is a common frustration among creatives: getting great bits of inspiration that arrive too late to be added to a released piece of work. Fortunately, sequels exist so that those ideas can be applied to a brand new canvas that also provides opportunities for even more exploration.
Alexandre Aja added that in the wake of Crawl, he has continued to see footage of natural disasters that make him think about potential set pieces, and he is planning on bringing those ideas to Crawl 2. Said Aja,
With Crawl, it's kind of the same because unfortunately storms and hurricanes didn't stop after the movie was released. And to see all that footage all the time on TV, I keep thinking about all those different setups, all those different options that could make an amazing, suspenseful surviving survival scene for Crawl. So I'm ready to bring all that back to the screen and put my wetsuit back on.
Sequels to Alexandre Aja's films have been produced (namely 2007's The Hills Have Eyes 2 and 2012's Piranha 3DD), but Crawl 2 will mark the first time that he has taken the helm of a sequel to one of his own movies. Andrew Deutschman and Jason Pagan are currently working on the script, and Aja is producing the project alongside horror legend Sam Raimi (who also produced the first film).
Crawl 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but principal photography is scheduled for the fall, and the setting of the story will be moving from Florida to New York City.
While we wait for more news about Alexandre Aja's next feature, his latest movie, Never Let Go starring Halle Berry, is set to arrive in theaters nationwide on September 20. Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the director and stars of the new horror film, and check out our 2024 Movie Release Calendar to learn about all of the titles set to arrive on the big screen and streaming between now and the end of the year.
