A sealed building, thousands of hungry spiders and an itch you cannot reach.
Crawlers Review | Ángel Gómez Hernández | 2026 | 1 hr 20 min | [Certificate] |
- Director Ángel Gómez Hernández
- Starring Matilda Lutz, Gregg Sulkin, Melina Matthews
- Released 30 October 2026
- Runtime 1 hr 20 min
- Distributor Signature Entertainment
- Subgenre Creature feature
- Reviewed by Hope Madden
When a tenant turns up dead in a Los Angeles apartment block, building manager Serena and her neighbours are sealed inside by the police, just as a swarm of people-eating spiders starts spreading through the building.
Crawlers, the spider infestation horror from director Ángel Gómez Hernández, locks Matilda Lutz and a building full of tenants inside a quarantined Los Angeles apartment block with thousands of hungry arachnids. Hope Madden came out of it scratching. Written by Jayson Rothwell and released in UK cinemas by Signature Entertainment on 30 October, it is a lean creature feature with a simple story and plentiful spiders. Hope weighs that thin plot against the film’s real gift, which is making a whole audience itch, and sets it beside the recent run of spider horror. It is the latest creature feature to crawl into our horror movie reviews at Ginger Nuts of Horror. Here is her Crawlers review in full.
Crawlers is not the best spider film of recent years, and its story barely goes skin deep. What it does have is nasty spider business by the bucketload, tension built one sealed floor at a time, and effects convincing enough to leave you swatting at your own arms in the dark.
Is Crawlers Scary Enough to Make You Itch?
Is Crawlers the best arachnid horror movie ever made? No. It’s not the best arachnid horror movie made in the last couple of years. Did I nearly scratch myself raw watching it, certain I had spiders crawling on me? And did I have a nightmare later that I was looting a shoe store trying to find tie-up boots for my son to protect him from the spider invasion?
Yes, to both.
So, obviously director Ángel Gómez Hernández was doing something right as he traps us for 90 minutes in a quarantined 4-floor LA apartment building very recently overrun with spiders. Not just any spiders. Spiders that, as clarified by the opening title cards, have decided to eat people.
Decided. They decided this. But you know what? Writer Jayson Rothwell’s lack of imagination here frees us up to spend more time where we want to spend it. And if you’ve chosen to see a movie where an apartment building full of tenants is trapped inside with thousands of killer spiders, my guess is that you want to see some nasty spider business. Crawlers has it.
Matilda Lutz (Revenge) is Serena, the put-upon would-be musician/building super, who finds the first body. It looks bad, so the police put the building on lockdown until they can figure out what kind of virus took out George (Chris Rogers). And then once they realize it was no virus, they drape the building so nothing goes in or out, just as Serena’s neighbors are starting to see evidence of the infestation.
It’s a great way to build tension. And we’ve spent just enough time with the tenants to root for some to survive, and root for others to get into that elevator. And the film’s CGI is believable enough that I was forever scratching and swatting in my seat.
How Crawlers Measures Up Against Sting and Infested
There’s little underneath the basic story, so you’ll have to make do with surface level tension and character development. For more visual panache, check out Kia Roache-Turner’s 2024 terror Sting, and for more visceral scares with character, Sébastien Vanicek’s Infested makes every move Crawlers makes and does it better.
But those movies are not on the big screen right now, and if you want to be in a dark room full of skittering, hungry spiders, Crawlers delivers the creeps.
The Verdict: Is Crawlers Worth Watching?
The verdict
There is little beneath the basic story, but the spider business is nasty enough to keep you scratching long after the credits.
Watch it if: you want a dark cinema full of skittering, hungry spiders and a few tenants you would happily push into the lift.
Skip it if: you want depth under the scares, or you have already had your fill of spiders from Sting and Infested.
One last tip after this Crawlers review: lace your boots tight, check your sleeves, and take the stairs.
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About Ginger Nuts of Horror
Ginger Nuts of Horror is an independent horror review and culture site based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edited by British Fantasy Award nominee Jim McLeod, it publishes horror book reviews, film reviews, author interviews, features and cover reveals. Ginger Nuts of Horror won Best Inclusive Film & Book Review Platform at the SME News UK Enterprise Awards 2026.
