During the pandemic, a group of tourists checks into a quarantine hotel in Thailand. Soon, a creature starts attacking and killing them off one by one.
Based on Thai folklore about an ancient creature, this film wrong writers and directors Chalit Krileadmongkon and Pakphum Wongjinda mixes ancient folklore with current fears (or at least recent as of now, dating the film by a few years). The film does make good use of the one location being in a hotel, so many settings possible and then making the most of corridors, stairwells, and the characters inability to leave the building. The film builds some decent tension, but it does suffer here and there from some mildly goofy CGI. Here’s the thing though, the tension works at times, and the crawlers have some issues to them, but the filmmakers still manage to bring a decently entertaining creepy crawly creature film to the viewers. The story is simple enough, the folk tale basis helps bring a story with established elements, and the film it fairly well written and directed. So while this doesn’t reinvent the crawly bug sub-genre, it’s a decent entry with some new ideas thrown in.
The cast here is actually pretty good. There are a few scenes here and there where the acting is a bit off, but generally, the acting a more than decent. No one really stands out at bad, but also no one really stands out as the shining here start here. Leads Chanya McClory, Pirat Nitipaisalkul, and Benjamin Joseph Varney do the most with their parts with McClory and Nitipaisalkul really taking the film and running with it. Considering how much of the effects are CGI here, the acting had to be done without the bugs and a lot of the scare elements, so they did more than decent here.
The special effects here are a bit of a letdown due to a high usage of CGI which was most likely due to time and budget restraints. Overall, the creepy crawly creatures are creepy, they are crawly, they are creatures, so they basically work. The beings are a big gross and their kills are bloody, but had these been done with more practical effects, it would have been seriously creepier and a whole lot grosser.
Overall, Creepy Crawly is a fun creature film with some decent kills, some good acting, a few good ideas, and a setting that probably would have been more stressful 2 years ago. Still, it’s entertaining and works on many levels and it’s an easy watch, so a good little creature piece for a random afternoon.