REVIEW – The Crazies

Published on: 3rd March, 2010

REVIEW - The Crazies  | read this item

Related News

• NEWS – No Right Turn Region 2 DVD Details
• CULT – Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
• NEWS – Elm Street Writer for Final Destination 5
• REVIEW – Shogun Assassin

Forty-one year old Timothy Olyphant has been struggling for over a decade to find the suitable vehicle for his charming-yet-somewhat demented persona. Gone in 60 Seconds and Dreamcatcher, his career has recently flirted with the mainstream with roles in Hitman and Live Free or Die Hard. With neither assassin nor villain bringing him major success, Olyphant is now trying his hand at playing the hero. But is he leading man material and is he capable of carrying a movie by himself or should he keep to stealing scenes as a bit-part actor?

Ogden Marsh is a small town in Iowa with a tight-knit community and warm feeling of hospitality. David Dutton (Olyphant) is the local sheriff and his wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell), is the general practitioner at a nearby surgery, but their idyllic life is ruined when he is forced to shoot one of his citizens after brandishing a weapon at a high school game. The following evening, another local burns his family alive in their attic and seems to show no signs of remorse, only pure anger. Soon afterwards, David finds a plane underneath the surface of the lake and suspects that its cargo has infected the water supply. The military appear to place the town under quarantine and both David and Judy are separated from each other. Determined to save his wife and unborn child, David vows to escape from the soldiers and save his town before it is too late.

There have been an array of pointless and disappointing remakes over the last five years, primarily due to the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead, both of which scored major points at the box office. But it would be easier to count the good remakes, as they have been few and far between. Full of unnecessary CGI, MTV-style editing and every cliché imaginable, most of the current wave of remakes horror fans could do without. With several of George A. Romero’s classics having been brought into the modern times, it was perhaps inevitable that his 1973 thriller The Crazies would eventually get the same treatment.

Having previously directed Sahara, Breck Eisner decided to try his hand at the horror genre by giving The Crazies a modern spin. This is not as simple as it sounds, however, as Romero’s original had already been a major influence on every kind of outbreak movie from David Cronenberg’s Shivers to Chuck Russell’s 1988 update of The Blob. So how do the filmmakers approach the material in a way that does not seem derivative or overused? Truth is they haven’t, but as remakes go The Crazies is surprisingly effective and entertaining and Eisner has defied all expectations by making a half-decent, if not entirely original, thriller.

Olyphant proves to be a likable hero, and whilst his role hardly stretches his acting abilities he plays it competently. Mitchell is as equally impressive as his wife, adding an emotional aspect amongst all the bloodshed and macho gunfights. The script, from Scott Kosar (who also wrote The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror) and Ray Wright, is not entirely original but does attempt to flesh the two main characters out the best it can between the non-stop action. There are moments of gore for those who like their horror violent, but it is not as graphic as many recent horror movies. The world could have lived without The Crazies but it is still an effective movie that performs its functions adequately.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

Readers Comments