Ang Cheng WeiGeorge Romero seems to be like the zombies he films. Over 40 years of making zombie films, and the man just keeps trudging on. Though not directed by Romero, his influence as executive producer for The Crazies is duly felt. Instead, the US$20 million production (relatively low by Hollywood standards) is helmed by the still unproven Breck Eisner.
Does Breck Eisner, whose only big name theatrical release was 2005’s disastrous Sahara, called by Los Angeles Times ‘one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history’, deliver?
The Crazies is miles better than Sahara, that’s for sure. A remake of the 1973 film by the same name, the film stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell and Joe Anderson, as residents in the small fictional town of Ogden Marsh, Pierce County, Iowa. An unfortunate accident causes the town’s water supply to be contaminated with a virus which slowly drives the infected town residents crazy, hence the title.
The Crazies starts off with a languid pace, slowly introducing the various characters involved. The original 1973 The Crazies had both the viewpoints of the military and the townsfolk involved, but smartly, in the 2010 remake Eisner only retains the viewpoint of the townsfolk. By getting rid of the viewpoint of the military, the military becomes a villain, as well as making the virus more mysterious without the explanations given in the military’s viewpoint.
Reminiscent of his previous roles as police sheriffs in the short lived Deadwood television series, as well as the currently airing Justified, Olyphant plays David Dutten, the local sheriff of a small town.
The town’s idyllic peace is shattered by the police shooting of Rory Hamill (Mike Hickman), a well known drunkard who has been battling alcoholism for years. However, upon analyzing the corpse, the blood test comes back negative for blood alcohol content, mystifying Dutten.
Meanwhile, his wife Judy Dutten (Radha Mitchell), the town doctor, is confronted with a case of a resident behaving strangely. Cases of townsfolk attacking and killing other people eventually become widespread and all that comes to a head when the military step in, quarantining the entire town. As the movie progresses, Dutten and his wife, together with Russell Clank (Joe Anderson), the deputy sheriff try to escape the town, facing obstacles like the military and the infected townsfolk along the way.
Unfortunately, The Crazies does not live up to its thriller promises. Cliched events like someone shooting an infected just in the nick of time before one of the main characters are killed are aplenty.
In fact, the only time I flinched during the movie was when a bone saw was skittering along the floor, threatening to clatter its way onto Dutten’s nether regions. Scenes with the infected were just typical zombie fare, with the difference that the infected are not dead, but merely incredibly savage and bloodthirsty humans with veins popping out.
Furthermore, it feels like the filmmakers could have done a lot more with The Crazies. has. For example, in a scene, Dutten and his wife discover that the military are not only killing the infected, but also innocent uninfected townsfolk. In the hands of more skillful directors and writers, the scene could have been a lot more impactful, instead of just showing us the dead bodies and a horrified look by Dutten.
With the NC-16 rating, I would have expected a lot more emotionally and morally disturbing content, instead of just merely splashing blood, gore and a couple of vulgarities sprinkled here and there.
Still, The Crazies is not a bad movie, just cliched and nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s hard to recommend The Craziesin light of the more solid Inception and other movies currently in theaters right now.
Title: The Crazies
Opens: July 22
Duration: 101 minutes
Language: English
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Breck Eisner
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson