“They Crawl Beneath” (2022) Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
In director Dale Fabrigar's new creature feature They Crawl Beneath, Police officer Danny (Joseph Almani) is on the outs with anthropology student Gwen (Karlee Eldridge). He spins his wheels at the remote home of his Uncle Bill (Michael Paré, who must have had in his rider that he be given a bottle of beer to hold in each of his scenes in the first act). Together, the men begin working on restoring a vintage Ford Mustang when an earthquake strikes, trapping them under the car. Matters only get worse as an invasion of Tremors-like sharp-toothed, oversized worms make their deadly presence known.
They Crawl Beneath serves up some old-school practical effects — courtesy of Nick DeRosa and Dan Rebert — with its wormy monsters, with lots of gloop and gop, not to mention time-treasured man vs. puppet fights. This is the highlight of the film for me, and the CGI effects for the creatures — used rather sparingly — also look good. This element of They Crawl Beneath gives the film some 1950s creature feature throwback feel, of which I heartily approve.
Alas, most of the rest of They Crawl Beneath didn’t work for me. Though most of the cast members give earnest performances, the screenplay from Tricia Aurand doesn’t give them much to work with other than one cliche (SCIENCE DUMP! courtesy of character Dr. Wu [Gar-Ye Lee]) after another (you know what’s coming in the final shot long before it arrives). The musical score also lets you know that DRAMA! is happening.
No sarcasm here: If you have a significant other who isn’t into this type of movie and goes in instead for family drama or romance, this is probably a selection the two of you could watch together with a bowl of popcorn. Also, creature feature completists should find the attack scenes enjoyable.
They Crawl Beneath received a Blu-ray and DVD release from Well Go USA on October 4, 2022.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/). He also writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), B&S About Movies (bandsaboutmovies.com), and Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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