crawl – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: Is this an extension of the Vampire Snake’s tales?

Vampire Bat: None of the vampires have traveled to China in the last few years.

Vampire Owl: You mean to say that vampiric existence has now been restricted.

Vampire Bat: Vampires shall travel to any realm whenever necessary, but just not now.

Vampire Owl: Is it because of the humans becoming more of virus?

Vampire Bat: Humans have been true virus species for quite a long time.

Vampire Owl: And they call some micro-organisms as virus and bacteria.

Vampire Bat: They have always been strange people of some absurd things of science.

Vampire Owl: They are just like Dr. Frankenstein, I would say.

Vampire Bat: There is nobody as absurd as Mr. Frankenstein.

[Gets a paneer curry puffs and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: In the remote border highlands long way outside the cities and towns, there is a dark forest, and the local mountain people abide by ancient taboos that forbid trespassing deep and harming certain serpents. But a man named She Ye (Zhong Lei) is determined to break all rules for his factory which manufactures vaccines from snakes. Jiang Yan (Michelle Hu), the corporate head who controls the vaccine business also looks forward to have things done her way, and feels that she could regenerate some of her youth and slow down her ageing using some of the snake serums. She focuses on capturing a strange snake called The Snake Girl (Jin Yangyang) that has the head and torso of a girl and the lower body of a snake. She feels that capturing and continuously milking the girl kept in strong bondage for her venom is the best choice for her to keep her youth as well as to sell even a drop of her product for millions of dollars. She orders She Ye to keep the Snake Girl alive, but hurt her as much as it is required to capture her.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As illegal biochemical experiments spread further into the area, create the elixir capable of halting cellular decay becomes top priority. During the initial fight, the hunters are ambushed in the foggy woods by the legendary creature, and the crew is wiped out, but the group looking to milk her for her venom vows to return and do their job with perfection next time. Chen Shu (Liu Lincheng), a skilled mountain tracker and herbalist who had lost his brother to an attack by the Snake Girl in the past decides to join the team on request, but lays the condition that none of the snakes would be killed. Unaware of the possibility of being cheated, Chen Shu agrees to guide a more advanced armed expedition to find answers to his questions from the past. The team of commanded is led by Qin Feifei (Grace Qiu) who stops at nothing. But they are attacked by the Snake Girl again, and despite the early retreat, Chen Shu’s plans work as they manage to capture her. While the Snake Girl is taken to the laboratory to be milked, Chen is also captured to be killed. Now what is to come next?

The defence of The Snake Girl :: There is not shortage of movies with snakes around, and we also have half-human and half-creatures around in different movies, and this one adds to that list. The Snake Girl becomes an interesting character right from the beginning itself, especially as we know very less about her and her habitat which is a mystery in itself. The woods remain lonely, dark and deep, with some secrets seemingly hidden there not just about one half-girl half-snake creature, but much more, as there is a long set of beliefs seemingly hidden around there. This might surely be what the monster fans look for with strange mutant experiments, lab break-ins and aggressive serpent creatures who also has a supporting tale from the myths and legends. At less than seventy-five minutes making it one of the shortest horror movies that we see these days, it wastes very little time and avoids the long and dragging subplots typical of this type of movies. The horror works well mostly, especially when the creature attacks in full power, and often out of nowhere. The jungle setting works really well and the Snake Girl becoming anti-heroic is also nice.

The claws of flaw :: When we have a half-girl and half-snake mode activated, we were always supposed to hope to see the most out of the premise and following situations. There are moments when the special effects do not look that good, and the Snake Girl could have always done more instead of just attacking – some of her moments also go unnoticed due to the pace and we never see the creature with all the grandeur, and one wonders if it is because there was not enough budget to make a spectacular creature out of her. The digital snake effects and the monster attacks vary widely in quality and can look cartoonish at times. She could have been a creature burning bright like William Blake’s tiger, or even something like a mermaid out of this world using forest as her waters. The same can also be said about making the girl and her snakes scarier. Being scary does not seem to be something this movie could do with effectiveness. The usual greedy corporate executive, unethical biological laboratories experimenting on animals, disposable mercenary hunters and nature that fights back are all just repetitive in this kind of movies.

The performers of the soul :: Liu Lincheng plays the protagonist well, and he is seemingly the one person in the movie who keeps having right and righteous intentions all the time. He would also feel like playing the one sensible person of relevance that stays so throughout the movie. Jin Yangyang who plays the titular character would also have our attention all the time with the looks and expressions of a creature not of the human world, but bringing something from beyond the common man’s understanding. There are those moments when she looks at the eyes of the main antagonists, and there is something about her and the portrayal of that character which has no dialogues and not even an attempt to speak. Michelle Hu’s antagonist looking for eternal youth reminds us some of the classic villains, and we can see that she remains the pure corporate evil who is not just greedy, but also as selfish as one can get, with no remorse for her actions, even at the end when she is ready to meet her doom. Zhong Lei’s antagonist is also a memorable one, even with the character not that developed as one would like when there is a clear past.

How it finishes :: This is one of those movies which came out of nowhere in Amazon Prime Video when there was the search for those horror movies – we remember that Anaconda: Cursed Jungle also appeared just like that on the OTT platform when we were looking for something to watch. This works the best when taken on its own terms as a fast-paced piece of usual creature entertainment. The short runtime and straightforward revenge plot keep the narrative simple and effective with not much to think too much about. Jin Yangyang’s voiceless half-girl plus half-snake, whose clear motive of revenge delivered with efficiency makes this even more satisfying. With some better budget, the movie could have done wonders for sure, as in this state, it struggles to make the best out of its premise. There is very less focus on the narrative, as the tale and situations feel ordinary and repetitive at times. But as it is on Amazon Prime Video, most people of this part of the world would have watched this one already.

Release date: 24 June 2025
Running time: 74 minutes
Directed by: Weiwei Chi
Starring: Liu Lincheng, Jin Yangyang, Grace Qiu, Zhong Lei, Michelle Hu

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: I remember having met an elf with a similar name.

Vampire Bat: Well, this is certainly not a fantasy movie.

Vampire Owl: Elves are as real as we are. None of us are fantasy.

Vampire Bat: Well, for humans, we are all fantasy elements.

Vampire Owl: The girl on the poster does look very much real.

Vampire Bat: You surely cannot say the same about her surroundings.

Vampire Owl: The poster here doesn’t seems to mean anything.

Vampire Bat: It could be a reflection of the useless lives that the humans lead.

Vampire Owl: Well, with the terrible mindset that they have, what else can they do?

Vampire Bat: They could always choose to be extinct and save the planet and the other life forms that live without hate.

[Gets a vancho cake and three cups of iced tea].

What is the movie about? :: Lisa (Gaia Weiss) who works as a waiter is seen lying in the middle of a road in the countryside until a car arrives from a distance. She starts walking, but the man in the car, Adam (Peter Franzen) who works as a night watchman offers her a lift, as there is nobody nearby, and there is no hope of finding civilization soon enough. They seem to get along well enough, and Lisa is disappointed about her daughter’s death – she realizes that the girl would have been nine years old on that day if she was alive. There is the feeling of melancholy that runs through her, and she hopes that she could die one day and unite with he daughter again. It is then that it turns out that the man who is with her is a murderer, and the police is in search of him, as she realizes the same from the news on the radio. But the realization comes a little late, as he slams her head against the dashboard of the car, leaving her motionless.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Lisa wakes up in a small room which seems to have no way out. She is clothed in a strange suit which tightly fits her body, and a strange light-emitting device is attached to her wrist. Later, a door on the side opens and reveals a narrow tunnel through which she crawls with great difficulty, and the door closes right behind her, leaving her trapped inside on her all fours. She has no option, but to continue crawling, trying to find and exit which could lead her to freedom. The device on her wrist also seems to have a timer and alarm, as it seems to remind her of time running out, as she has to go squeeze through extremely narrow passages, as she moved towards light. As the roof of the tunnel comes down, almost catching her buttocks stuck within, that would be only the first of the challenges that she would have to overcome, soon to be followed by a rotten body, water, acid and others.

The defence of Meander :: Almost whole of the movie has just one setting around here, and it has also dealt with the same effectively. There are some fine traps in here, and the more terrifying thing is that they are all within a crawlspace, with the chance of escape being really minute – I wouldn’t give most of us any chance with this, but we root for the lady in distress here, as we are more confident about her getting through, even though not as much as Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider would. Here, in between, we come to know that there is more to all of these than what meets the eye, and that there is something beyond our comprehension, most probably supernatural or paranormal at work. The same is revealed in the end, and it means that we have further scope for a sequel here. After all, this kind of a premise, like that of Prometheus and Alien Covenant, even though lesser in grandeur, can have many different paths to follow. The mysterious feeling never really leaves us.

The claws of flaw :: Meander is surely not the usual kind of a movie, and it goes divergent from even any other possible film who can deal with a similar circumstance. It doesn’t have much more than what it provides here, and leaves us with minimal settings. People who don’t wish to see one person trying to fight it all to make the way out of a long crawlspace won’t find this one to be of their type. Even though this is supposed to be science fiction, the same type of elements show less of a presence around here. We also feel that this could have been better, more direct in what it does, because you know how these have worked really well with the video games. There could have been direct ideas provided here, and even though there could be symbolism being connected here, there is not much that we can use directly. We do have many films with one actor getting all the focus, and others being almost absent – Sunny is a recent example, and this one could have done more with the one character other than the trap escape acts.

Performers of the soul :: The movie has only two actors, and it is more or less about Gaia Weiss, who is there for the whole of the movie, and works through it very all, as her character keeps trying to survive against all odds. She nicely fits in here, and one would feel that if there is a full action film coming soon, she could be right in there, doing a great job. She plays the character that has do the impossible, and she does some fantastic work as the one person who goes through all of these. To add to it, there is also an emotional side to her character, which is also portrayed well. Peter Franzen also has some work to do, but he has a very less time on the screen. Basically, we can say that everything is left to Gaia, and she becomes the sole pillar on which the movie depends on, as far as performances are concerned. She never looks like she is going to lag with that much of a weight on her. Not many people could have handled the same so well too.

How it finishes :: Meander makes a fine French movie that has different elements coming together even with almost everything set in one particular place. It is all about survival, set in a seemingly difficult situation, much scarier than The Shallows where we know the enemy, and much hopeless than The Platform in which there was at least the certainty of food and a possible companionship. Unlike the rest which has some hope for its protagonists, this one is at an advanced level of leaving almost no chance to survive, like a hopeless level of The Maze Runner. As a film which gives you claustrophobia, this one is surely an experiment which you might want to remember for long. As the lady moves through this particular crawlspace world, you are into some slow and effective moments of thrills, unlike the ones that we usually see elsewhere. It is that tale of survival which once again has the protagonist fighting against all odds, and we are all hoping for her to survive.

Release date: 11th October 2020
Running time: 87 minutes
Directed by: Mathieu Turi
Starring: Gaia Weiss, Peter Franzen