In case you dear readers haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a bit of an excitable person. There are already tons of upcoming 2025 movies I’m looking forward to, in addition to the rest of this year’s lineup having some really winners. So when I got the initial word that Crawl 2 was in development, I wasn’t sure I had room in my heart for something that doesn’t feel like a natural follow-up. But then I read the plot details, and I went from being on the defensive to getting ready to gat-or done!
Paramount Pictures is reported to be in “deep development” on the sequel to director Alexandre Aja’s 2019 horror smash, with THR’s write-up specifying that Aja will be back to direct this new adventure. So that’s the first green flag, as part of my brain still remembers the massive dip in quality between the French helmer’s remake of The Hills Have Eyes and its ill-advised sequel.
And don’t think I invoked the timeframe of 2025 all willy nilly, as this new alligator flick is looking to get underway in the fall. That could hint at all of this “deep development” putting this baby into theaters within the next year! Which leads us to what Crawl 2 is allegedly going to be about, courtesy of these supposed pitch details from the report cited:
Crawl 2 will feature a new cast and a new location, in this case the more urban dangers of New York City, according to sources.
Ok, so Crawl 2 wants to go to the Big Apple and let some gators (or a singular, intensely-focused gator) take a huge bite? Considering the original Crawl was one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite movies of 2019, this concept somehow tracks even more.
Perhaps one of our potential heroes can use a flamethrower to defend their party, whilst quipping about how everyone wants their gator bites done? If you're into the best scary animal movies without sharks, or even the ones that include those beautiful creatures, I'd like to think you're on the same page as I am about all of this.
And just in case you've somehow forgotten the magic that is Crawl, check out this trailer I've dug out of the archives, included below:
While I wouldn’t have been totally against this fast-moving sequel revisiting Haley (Kaya Scodelario) and Dave Keller (Barry Pepper), it's hard to imagine how that version would work. That push and pull is something I still feel when revisiting Crawl's ending, as it was specifically engineered to do just that; like a gator grown in a lab.
That, and the last thing I’d want Crawl 2 writers Andrew Deutschman and Jason Pagan to have to do is re-open the process of deciding whether Crawl’s dog lived or died. Sugar deserved to live and we all know it! We can't just let Florida hog all of the gator-grabbin' fun, and what better place than New York City to open up a new batch of potentially dismembering fun?
While talking about nature, Crawl 2’s potential pitch has done what any Paramount horror sequel worth its salt should do: take the show on the road to Manhattan! And why not? It kinda worked for Jason Voorhees, and judging by the Smile 2 trailer, it looks like we’ll be seeing that strategy in play again very soon. If Mr. Tarantino, or any other Crawl fans want to step up and debate my thinking, I’ll cordially accept that challenge.
Look, if you want to truly understand why this announcement has me thrilled, there are two things you can do. Option 1 is that you travel back in time to 2019 and read that Mike’s Crawl review, which is as glowing as Kaya Scodelario’s flare in the header image. And if you do, tell him I say hello and that Crawl 2 is happening.
Your second option, and one I’d highly recommend either before or after reading my other works, is logging onto a Paramount+ subscription (or any other platform that currently streams this film) and watching it for yourself. Trust me, you’re going to be glad you did... unless you don’t like the idea of 87 minutes containing close quarter, nail-biting thrills involving natural killing machines.
