Review: The Crazies

Review By: Joel Robertson

Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Danielle Panabaker, Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell
Rating: 8/10

REVIEW: Before I begin my review of THE CRAZIES (release date: February 26, 2010) I must preface it by saying that while I am a huge fan of George A. Romero's Dead series, I have never seen his original 1973 film of which this remake Is based. With that out of the way, wow I genuinely enjoyed this updated version much more than I initially thought I would. While there have been a few good remakes, or re-imaginings, or whatever you want to call them (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes to name a couple) the majority of them have come across as generally pointless cash-ins on franchises that haven't even had much monetary or cultural relevance these days. So when I was invited to check out a remake of George A. Romero's The Crazies, even though I hadn't seen the original, my hopes were more or less pretty low to non existent.

My tune quickly changed as the opening scene perfectly set the tone for the films mix of bleak apocalyptic horror and spurts of genuinely funny humor. The plot is simple enough and I will keep this review as spoiler free as possible, all you should really know going in (unless you are familiar with the original) is that a virus of some sort has begun spreading across a small farm based town in Iowa and as people are forcefully pulled from their homes by military officials in bio hazard suits and subjected to a quick medical examination, they are either taken on a 'safe bus' to an undisclosed location or transferred to a medical facility for further examination. Amidst all of this, the towns sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his deputy (Joe Anderson), a doctor (Rhada Mitchell); who also happens to be our young sheriff's wife, and her young assistant played by a veteran in progress of the remake game, Friday the 13th's Danielle Panabraker, fight for survival as they search the small, heavily military occupied, town for a way out.

The great Timothy Olyphant!

All key actors do an above adequate job in their roles with Anderson providing a lot of laughs as the situation gets more and more dire. The virus in question is quote similar to the one found in the 28 days and months films in that it spreads through blood and cause the lucky recipient to turn zombie-like and feel the urge to kill anyone around them. Only difference is that here, the infected act relatively normal until they begin their rampage, usually without warning. This provides al ot of great "is he/she infected or not?!" moments of tension. Which brings us to the scares...a horror film is only as good as it's most unsettling moment and 'The Crazies' is full of them.

Romero actually executive produced this remake and his input and influence shows throughout. Because of the way the filmmakers cleverly inject moments of humor throughout the film, the audience spends a good deal of time laughing in between the more tense moments but just as you begin to calm down or feel a smile creep across your face for longer than 5 minutes the film makers bitch slap you in the face with brutal kills out of left field, genuinely effective jump moments, and an ever apparent sense of dread to make sure you are never fully comfortable with the situation at hand. Also, I have to give props to the creative minds behind this film for one of the most original, creative, and all around awesome (and cheer inducing) kills I have seen in quite awhile.

Lets go CRAZIES!

Before we were showed the film we were told that be because it was such an early test screening that we would be seeing a "work- in- progress" and that some effects, music, and cinematography would be unfinished, but with the exception of some obviously un-finished CGI in the films final moments I never noticed anything off visually and the music always worked wonderfully throughout the film with a mostly acoustic folk sounding guitar soundtrack, beautifully offsetting the dark visuals attached. Director Breck Eisner (the upcoming "Creature From the Black Lagoon" and "Flash Gordon") does a good job of capturing the overall bleak feel of the film with lots of flushed out colors and when the intense claustrophobic feelings start to creep up on you in certain scenes inside the medical facility they are hard to shake.

Now for all of it's merits, the film does have some flaws that, while not glaring, could have been easily avoided. First off, the explanation to where and why the virus has arrived in town are hasty and quite honestly more than a couple holes arise, but this never affects the tension built around these ideas, if that makes sense. Secondly, while the CGI gore is effective when used, I can't help but miss the days of good old fashioned practical FX. Finally, the film moves at a brisk pace but at 86 minutes could stand to be fleshed out a little more. Perhaps in the time they have before it's release the film makers will fix these problems, only time will tell. I have always wondered how it must feel to step into a legends shoes and try to remake something they have already done, well Breck Eisner and writer Scott Kosar (who also wrote '05's "Amityville Horror) can rest easy knowing that they have crafted an above average horror film that will hopefully be able to fill some seats when it is actually released in early 2010.

CRAZIES hottie Danielle Panabraker!

Source: AITH