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About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.
Timothy Olyphant: David Dutton
The remake of The Crazies from 1973 by Zombie connoisseur
George A. Romero whom actually is producer for this rehashed effort. The acting results in being decent while the scares very effective. The pacing was successful and keeps your interest throughout, but I think it may have needed some editing and perhaps focus on inside areas with characters instead of the open area walking scenes. The in-closed scenes worked perfectly.
After a quick scene of a small town burning at the beginning, we are pointed to two days prior where a baseball game is being played. One of the local residents, looking very much off, walks onto the field with a shotgun, and the local sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) steps forward after telling everybody to take cover. Trouble ensues and suddenly a small once peaceful town is thrown into a nightmare that they can't escape. You see, something has contaminated the water supply, and it causes people to go insane and start killing one another. How this all comes about, I will not say, but the town sheriff, his pregnant wife (Radha Mitchell), the sheriff's deputy (Joe Anderson), and a town friend (Danielle Panabaker) try to survive and make their way to the next town in hopes that it is not infected, but things aren't that easy, as our four protagonists soon find out.
Reminiscent of virus films such as 28 Days later, 28 Weeks later, with The Crazies the story focuses on everyday people becoming bloodthirsty maniacs when a virus infects the population.
28 Days Later and 28 weeks later notched the tension higher and then hit us with the shocks.
What is a success with The Crazies is that you do begin to care about what happens to our four protagonists as they make their way through this nightmarish landscape. Some have said their wasn't much chemistry between the husband and wife, but when you're trying to survive, some of that marital affection becomes nullified. Besides it isn't that type of film.
The Crazies overall is a guilty pleasure and one hell of a ride for horror, thriller and tension fans. What is lacks in originality it makes up for in sheer shocking entertainment.
Directed by Breck Eisner while Scott Kosar and Ray Wright worked on the riveting screenplay. George A. Romero clearly has his style and horror roots stamped firmly on this remake which works for all the right reasons.
I see The Crazies even spawning a sequel in the future. But I guess if a couple can out-drive a nuclear fall out from an A-Bomb, anything is possible. Arnold can outrun a nuclear alien blast in Predator; With these kinds of films realism isn't the highest on the priorities. It's just a thrilling slice of fun.
''We're in trouble.''
7/10
