July 14, 2010
Review - " The Crazies " - (on DVD) By Roland Hansen
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The Crazies
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker
A virus breaks out causing residents of a small rural community to go “crazy.”
An honorable sheriff tries to save his family and friends.
The Crazies is a remake from 1973, but the original version isn’t in the catalog
of horror film classics that most people remember. For most audiences, me
included, this flick will not feel like a remake, but rather a governmental horror
flick that is is a movie about zombie like crazy people. The Crazies could’ve
been an addition to the list of stupidly crazy horror movies but this movie doesn’t
just go for the cheap scares. It also makes you fully aware of how close these
people are, how this small town has a community of people who all know each
other and how tragic it is to have them turning on each other.
The Crazies is padded with horror film clichés, but thankfully the director, Breck
Eisner, does not lose himself in torture pornography that most movies are
obsessed with today. There is nothing new or necessarily memorable in any
frame; there are villains, heroes and a few disposable characters that will be
killed off. But, the film does a solid job of entertaining, which is all you can
expect from a movie that is basically about zombies. We have all seen it and
jumped at it before.

What keeps The Crazies from seeming crazy is a strong plot (for a horror movie) full of an evil government, backwards
country folk and logical enough scenarios. The characters seem realistic and you rarely say “Huh?” You know a horror flick
has done its job when the audience is rooting for the characters versus yelling at the screen, “Just kill the bitch!”
Toward the end, The Crazies
gets a bit loopy with redundant
clichés or lifesavers always
arriving at the right moment.
However, just when the flick is
about to turn into another
knock off from 28 Days Later,
the movie ends on an
explosive, good note. There
just might be a sequel. It's not
a bad movie - though its title
may suggest otherwise - it's
just not a very original one.
I can't point out anything that
made my eyes roll too hard or
fingered my "piss-off" button
too vigorously. I'm not really a
big fan of the horror genre
and this one is pretty standard
fair. It just is what it is.