WARNING! Spoilers for Into the Dark: Crawlers ahead.
Crawlers, Into the Dark’s newest installment puts St. Patrick’s Day in its crosshairs as the monthly anthology series tackles extraterrestrials with a story that’s full of twists.
Hulu’s Into the Dark is on its second season, and has been a great source of content for the streaming service. St. Patrick’s Day is an atypical holiday for the horror genre, but Into the Dark’s Crawlers takes a creative stance on the riotous, celebratory time. Crawlers looks at an alien invasion, and to a group of unlikely people to stop the threat. Crawlers tells an emotional story about the importance of friends and believing victims, especially on a holiday that revolves around drinking to excess.
Into the Dark’s Crawlers initially feels a lot like Edgar Wright’s The World’s End, but is told through a female perspective and skews towards a young adult demographic. A pub crawl accumulates a massive body count as aliens begin to replace the citizens of Emerald Springs. Crawlers gets creative with its aliens, as they operate like zombies. Once they bite someone, they’re able to take on their form. Shauna, Misty, and Aaron work together to find their friend Chloe and take out the nest. Even after the ending, there are still some questions left up in the air.
Is Chloe An Alien Doppleganger?
One of the dominant threats and sources of suspense in Crawlers is the idea that anyone might actually be an alien doppelgänger. Whenever somebody exhibits unusual behavior, they’re put under a new level of scrutiny and accused of possibly being an extraterrestrial. Thankfully, there’s a convenient litmus test to see if somebody is an alien: they have green blood. This tactic is used several times to help weed out who isn’t the person they say they are. Chloe is missing for a large portion of Crawlers, and when Misty and company reunite with her, they’re thrown for a loop when they find two Chloes. Misty’s friendship and understanding of Chloe is put to the ultimate test when she has to determine which Chloe is real. Misty is able to determine the real Chloe from her self-interested attitude, which resolves the matter rather than leaving it up to interpretation.
Do The Aliens Succeed In Their Infiltration Mission?
Crawlers explains that the shapeshifting aliens came to Earth via a meteor and that they’ve been on the planet since the ‘70s. These aliens were initially insects, but they’ve grown and evolved over time as they’ve begun their gradual subjugation of the human race. Misty, Shauna, and Aaron let that these aliens operate via a hive mind and controlled by a giant nest. Shauna’s mother helps the group prepare for this obstacle and they hope that by blowing up the nest, they’ll take out the aliens. The movie makes it seem like they succeed, but Shauna implies that the FBI are keeping tabs on them, and danger could still be out there. The final moments of Crawlers also shows another alien meteor that crashes to Earth. Clearly, the aliens are up to another invasion attempt, but everyone is more prepared this time.
The Real Meaning Of Into The Dark: Crawlers’ Ending
The ending of Into the Dark’s Crawlers features an unlikely group of heroes who vanquish a massive extraterrestrial threat, but the bigger issues are much more personal in nature. Crawlers is a story about trusting people even when there isn’t proof. It all boils down to the importance of believing women. This is a theme that Into the Dark has actually explored a number of times before, but the extraterrestrial element and its parallels to gaslighting are strong. It’s also a powerful message when the empathy of a nihilistic and isolated character in the film helps solve the problem.
Crawlers looks at characters who begin to understand the benefits and power of community, but also that life is more positive when people can emotionally go out on a limb. Crawlers tells a story about finding comfort in unlikely places and how it’s important not to jump to conclusions. It also finds a way to get clever with how teens are routinely doubted on St. Patrick’s Day due to excessive drinking. Here, they’re actually trying to save the town, and people struggle to believe their claims. It’s another fun example of the layered storytelling that Into the Dark pulls off.
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