Crawl is a thrill-a-minute alligator home invasion story from director Alexandre Aja, producer Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead), and local screenwriters Shawn and Michael Rasmussen. Aja, whose films High Tension and Piranha 3-D demonstrated his efficiency for horror and gore, directs the film with twice the kicks (and on one tenth of the budget) of the recent scaly monstrosity Godzilla. One principle location and two actors not only cut down on the budget — it also ups the claustrophobia. Criticism that this is implausible schlock filled with waterlogged clichés may be true, but the observation ignores that the movie serves up the satisfactions of a good summer thriller. As a kid, we used to wait endlessly for the monsters in movies to appear. Lucky for us – and unlucky for the inhabitants of this Florida town – the critters in Crawl attack quickly, mercilessly, and often. This is a perfect guilty pleasure, an old fashioned B-movie without a franchise, explosions, overly recognizable actors, or exhausting mano a mano violence.
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Director Jim Jarmusch attacks the zombie genre with gusto in his latest film, The Dead Don’t Die. Throughout popular culture, zombies have been done to death — so to speak. So why would Jarmusch bother to try his hand at the genre? For starters, he has tailored the material  for his favorite actors, Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, and Iggy Pop. There’s also a hodgepodge of celebrity cameos, including Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Carol Kane, and cult director/actor Larry Fessenden.  Jarmusch’s vampire film, Only Lovers Left Alive (2103), reflected serious directorial engagement, mixing decadent intellectuals and punk rockers. Zombies receive a more back-of-the-hand treatment, with environmental disaster and consumerism (with a tip of the hat to George Romero) the nebulous political targets. Essentially, The Dead Don’t Die is a gag fest filled with horror tropes performed by a dream cast. The set-up and jokes generally lampoon the banality and the ordinariness of small-town life. The effort is a trifle, but a cleverly amusing one.
Murray and Driver play sheriffs Cliff Robertson and Ron Peterson in the one-diner town of Middletown. 
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