The Crazies

'The Crazies' (2010) is a remake of zombie-maestro George A Romero's 'other' film from the seventies. Most people only know him in connection with his Night/Dawn/Day/Land quadrology, but he also made The Crazies back in the early seventies. It was basically a zombie film by another name; instead of the undead you had people infected (in the non 28 Days Later kind of way) with a contamination which basically meant they go nuts (or crazy, basically).

If you've seen the other remake of George A Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead (2004)' then you should kind of know the 'look and feel' of the Crazies' remake. It sort of feels like a compendium piece to Dawn's remake, even down to having a Johnny Cash song over the opening credits.

We have a place crashing a toxic chemical which gets in a small American town's water supply, making everyone start killing each other. Naturally the Government is on hand to generally mess things up for the hapless townsfolk who have already started to murder each other in various grisly ways.

The story follows the sheriff, his doctor wife, his deputy and another girl as they desperately try to flee the town while being pursued by nut-jobs, the government and the paranoia that one or more of them may well be infected.

It's not the most mind-blowing of premises, but it does the job. It's not original enough to really stand out. I suppose the most different aspect to it is that the 'infected' or 'non-zombies' (or whatever you want to call them) do still retain enough intelligence to generally act a little difference to your average undead menace (you don't get too many zombies driving cars and firing shotguns at our heroes!).

If you're generally into your zombie movies then this one will do the job. It has enough of a budget to raise it above the bucketload of B-movies who are using the 'zombie craze' to sell itself and the cast, although nothing out of the ordinary, do enough to make us root for them.

Nothing too memorable, but nothing too awful and will certainly entertain any horror fan for an hour and a half.

What I really love about this movie, was the main character. He really did the whole movie for me.

Usually, in zombie movies or "OMG it's a horrible disease that spreads quickly!" movies, the characters wait around until the story forces them to act. But not in this movie! This movie's protagonist takes the initiative, he isn't waiting around to be killed once he gets the gist of things. He starts off trying to help legally, and then resorts to the illegal.

He was & is a well written character, his actor was fine as well but not something too amazing or interesting.

Pros:

Well written protagonist & support Cool and somewhat realistic plot Well done action scenes

Cons: It takes a bit of time 'till the story kicks in, but I believe it's worth the wait

It is clear that the current cycle of horror remakes is far from over and the results so far have for the most part been surprisingly good. This trend continues with 'The Crazies'- a reinvention of George Romero's little-seen 1973 original. The plot is beyond simple: a biological agent gets into the water supply of a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh and turns the inhabitants into homicidal maniacs. Things get even worse when a US Army unit initiates a brutal containment operation where shooting first and not bothering to ask questions is the order of the day.

The film wastes little time building up to the first outbreak of insanity and then chillingly portrays how the town's social fabric is obliterated at break-neck speed. There is an abundance of scary moments, inventive gore, and even some very black humor. Some moments are so intensely suspenseful that time seems to practically stand still. All the cast play their parts well; including Timothy Olyphant as the town sheriff, Joe Anderson as his deputy, and Radha Mitchell as the town doctor. The minimalist soundtrack is also strikingly effective. All in all, this film is a treat for horror fans and for anyone looking for an intense night out at the movies.

I didn't know diddly squat about this movie before I saw it, and that's how I recommend you see it also. The back of the DVD case sorta spoils some of the fun, so avoid reading it if you can. All I'll say about the plot is pretty evident from the title and cover picture (a blood drenched pitchfork). This is a movie where chances are you're gonna see someone get it with a pitchfork.

The overall story and theme reminded me of the classic thrillers of the 70s, so it came as no huge surprise when I learned that this was a remake of a 70s George Romero flick. By comparing it to 70s thrillers I mean to say it's the story of a lone protagonist or small group fighting against a grossly overpowering enemy. This sort of "hopeless underdog" theme was probably a result of the political climate of the 70s, when people were waking up and realizing that our beloved guv'meant and friendly corporations were sucking us dry like a 2 hour old wad of Bazooka Joe bubble gum. So this distrustful awakening spawned excellent conspiracy flicks like "Coma", "The China Syndrome", "The Andromeda Strain" and "The Stepford Wives" which flew in the face of the traditional tale of a superhero good guy vs. a clear and present danger, instead showing a more disturbing scenario of a protagonist at the mercy of a far more insidious and often faceless enemy.

What, you're saying? Then who's the dude with the pitchfork? Well broadly speaking, again as you might guess from the title, the enemy is an entire town gone crazy. That's what makes this hit home. With the enemy being our neighbors and friends, it's not like we're threatened by a fantasy 2-headed space beast. Instead the threat is something that exists around all of us. As the actors mention in the "behind the scenes" DVD feature, this is the terror of something safe & familiar which is turned upside down.

In that respect it reminded me of another excellent thriller, "The Strangers" about an ordinary couple terrorized by ordinary people in very un-ordinary ways. Again, no supernatural monsters or (as my title says) no "zombies" are required to instill perfect fear. This is the sort of movie that'll leave you thinking "wow, that really COULD happen." That's the mark of a truly terrifying story.

The acting is fantastic, and although I had never seen any of these people on screen before, I instantly liked every one because they seemed so real and personable. My favorite character was "Russell" who plays a harmless sheriff's deputy, but as the film gets darker, he too becomes more fidgety and cynical to the point where you're not sure what's going on in his head.

Special effects are really good. No obvious cgi garbage. Yes, the film crew really did roll a few trucks and trash a few streets to make the carnage authentic. Makeup also is really convincing, so much that it's more disturbing than the actual gore (which surprisingly there isn't a whole lot of; most of the violence is handled quickly from creative angles that pump up your imagination).

Entertainment value: 10/10. This flick hits you from the very first scene and keeps the suspense rolling through the whole thing. The scares are well placed. Things remain tense without the need for unnecessary kitschy horror clichés... although there's at least one scene where the movie isn't afraid to make fun of itself a little. I'm talking about the over- the-top bone saw scene which was as much comedy as it was horror. Lots of reasons to see this movie so go out and rent it already. You'll never see your neighbors, or pitchforks, the same way again.

When residents of a small-town begin attacking each other, the survivors are lead away from the area, but when they learn of others still trapped in the town they head back to rescue them before they fall victim to the bloodthirsty creatures.

This was a hard one to get a handle on as there's stuff to love and dislike here. Some of the stuff works, from the build-up in the beginning with the family being stalked in the house before it being set on fire to the gory ambush in the morgue, there's some nice action scenes early on that create a pretty creepy air especially when combined with the investigation angle. The assault on the camp as well as the action in the burned-out ruins of the town are rather nice and certainly big, fun action scenes that provide some nice blood and gore, and it gets a lot of fun out of an abbreviated ambush in a car-wash and a truck- stop encounter, but the fact remains that there's a lot of problems here. The biggest flaw is that the middle segments, after a strong opening, just drain the energy from the film as it continually repeats the tender family relationship that never once feels threatened or in danger, despite attempts to force the issue but it knowingly won't and just renders the whole thing pointless. Also, by dropping the number of encounters down it leaves the relentless pacing of the first half incredibly slowed down and dull afterward, drawing out the film a little too long in this section. Another big serious flaw is the complete and total lack of explanations for the toxin dropped in the town, which is a real mystery on all fronts in how it works, its' purpose and wherever the toxin came from. This is a major flaw which really hampers the film along with its other flaws as otherwise, this is a decent effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and children-in-jeopardy.