The Crazies (2010) User Reviews (357)

Exhilarating and terrifying

[dfranzen70 · 7/10 · 27 February 2010]

The Crazies, a remake of a seldom-seen 1972 George Romeo film, is about a small town whose inhabitants drink tainted water and become deranged. The movie is slick but still terrifying, relying not only on wacked-out effects but also on unadulterated suspense to really rattle your nerves.

At a Little League game in Ogden Marsh, Iowa, a man wanders into the outfield carrying a shotgun. When the man raises the weapon, Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) shoots him dead. But the man wasn't drunk, he'd just gone crazy. Dutton investigates further, with the help of his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson), and discovers that a plane carrying a deadly cargo has crashed into a nearby creek, thus poisoning the town's drinking water.

From there, events quickly get out of hand, as anyone who'd drunk water from their taps becomes first listless and unresponsive, then mumbly, then completely unhinged. But that's only the beginning of the nightmare for the town, which is then surrounded by a military force bent on containing the virus by any means necessary.

This is only kind of a zombie film. I mean, no one's dining on the flesh of their living compatriots, there's no shambling, and mindless killing. (There's plenty of killing, but the afflicted people still have the capacity for reason.) One thing I liked about this was that precious time isn't spend trying to discover the reason for everyone's behavior; attention is focused on the survivors and how they react to what's going on. I also appreciated that at no time does anyone, even the sheriff, have this superhuman ability to know what must be done and how to do it. Dutton isn't a superhero, he's a sheriff.

Another thing that helps a lot is the pacing. Too often, things either move so quickly that you can't figure out what's being done to whom or too slowly so that the suspense angle becomes the boredom angle. This is crucial for a horror film, which basically trafficks in suspense. Director Breck Eisner keeps the action coming without holding up the story (e.g., no drawn-out standoffs when it would look implausible), and there are plenty of creeping-up-on-you moments to choke twelve cows.

Olyphant looks a lot like a younger Bill Paxton here, and he's a good fit - Sheriff Dutton is a solid leader, but he's not an improbable one. He's the kind of guy who rises to the occasion, not surpasses it completely. If you're looking for a movie where the hero is always armed to the teeth and subsequently never gets much more than a scratch on him, this isn't for you. Dutton has to constantly fight with his own instincts and change his attitude during the course of the movie (save everyone, save his wife, save a few people, save himself).

People who make horror movies know they're making them for a pretty select audience. Lots of people don't like horror movies at all, and those who do are somewhat picky about them (particularly with so many big-budget ones from which to choose), so standards are high. It's important to grab that core audience, show them something they haven't seen or haven't seen done particularly well, then smack them upside the head. Classic horror films used the horror of the unseen to great effect, and more-recent genre films try the same thing. (One reason for this is that we've become inured to in-your-face slasher films, because the anticipation of the slasher doing his slashing has largely been eroded. But that's a digression right there.

Basically, if zombie movies in general are your bag, you should love The Crazies. (If you don't like any horror films regardless, there's no way you should see this.) The Crazies is effectively scary, mixing human emotions with raw blood and gore and endless edge-of-your seat thrills.

When the Remake is Better than the Original Film

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 12 November 2010]

In Pierce County, Iowa, the Sheriff David (Timothy Olyphant) is forced to kill the local Rory Hamill (Mike Hickman) that is threatening the community in a baseball game with a rifle and an insane behavior. Then his wife Dr. Judy (Radha Mitchell) examines another local, Bill Farnum (Brett Rickaby), who has a strange behavior. In the night, Bill traps his wife and son in the room and then he burns their house to the ground. On the next morning, David and his Deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) are called by three hunters that had found a dead pilot in the Hopman Bog. David and Russell find a big airplane in the bottom of the bog. Sooner the army seals off the town and imprisons the population in tents and concentration camps. David, Russell, Judy and her assistant Becca (Danielle Panabaker) escape and sooner they discover that the plane was airborne with a biological weapon and crashed contaminating the water supply of the population. Further, there is no antidote for the victims that are doomed to die or become incurably mad. The quartet tries to find a breach in the containment to reach the next town, but the escapees are hunted by the army.

I usually hate remakes, but "The Crazies" (2010) is a rare case when the remake is better than the original film of George Romero. The tense plot is slightly different from the original story of 1973 that reflected the paranoia of those years of Cold War. Further, the plot focuses in the personal drama of David and Judy and not in the military action like in the 1973 movie. The screenplay, direction and performances are above average and this film worth watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Epidemia" ("The Epidemics")

Far better than the original

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 28 April 2015]

When residents of a small-town begin attacking each other, the survivors are lead away from the area, but when they learn of others still trapped in the town they head back to rescue them before they fall victim to the bloodthirsty creatures.

This was a hard one to get a handle on as there's stuff to love and dislike here. Some of the stuff works, from the build-up in the beginning with the family being stalked in the house before it being set on fire to the gory ambush in the morgue, there's some nice action scenes early on that create a pretty creepy air especially when combined with the investigation angle. The assault on the camp as well as the action in the burned-out ruins of the town are rather nice and certainly big, fun action scenes that provide some nice blood and gore, and it gets a lot of fun out of an abbreviated ambush in a car-wash and a truck- stop encounter, but the fact remains that there's a lot of problems here. The biggest flaw is that the middle segments, after a strong opening, just drain the energy from the film as it continually repeats the tender family relationship that never once feels threatened or in danger, despite attempts to force the issue but it knowingly won't and just renders the whole thing pointless. Also, by dropping the number of encounters down it leaves the relentless pacing of the first half incredibly slowed down and dull afterward, drawing out the film a little too long in this section. Another big serious flaw is the complete and total lack of explanations for the toxin dropped in the town, which is a real mystery on all fronts in how it works, its' purpose and wherever the toxin came from. This is a major flaw which really hampers the film along with its other flaws as otherwise, this is a decent effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and children-in-jeopardy.

The right kind of remake

[Cujo108 · 9 May 2010]

This remake of the 1973 George Romero film sees the rural Iowa town of Ogden Marsh become unhinged when it's residents begin exhibiting odd behavior, usually culminating in acts of violence. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is at a loss to explain what's happening to the people he's known all his life, but the discovery of a dead pilot in a marsh leads him to the answer, a downed plane infecting the town's water supply. It isn't long before the military has blocked all methods of communication and descended upon the town. Determined to render a final solution, they don't intend to let anyone out alive.

Following the basic setup of the original, this update expands upon the story and throws in a few new directions and surprises. If you ask me, there was plenty of room for improvement. Romero's film is decent, but highly flawed. You could blame the budget, but Romero's done some fantastic work with low budgets. It definitely had bigger problems than that. This is the type of remake I wish there were more of, the type that can improve on a weak original. We spend the majority of the film with the four main characters as they attempt to escape the madness; David, his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson) and his wife's secretary (Danielle Pannabaker). I was already a fan of both Olyphant and the lovely Mitchell before viewing this, and they're once again in solid form here. This is basically Olyphant's show, and he owns the screen when he's on. I'd love to see him get more leading roles after this. Anderson and Pannabaker are also impressive, getting me to care about the fates of their characters, something that many horror films have a hard time doing. One of the major differences between this and the Romero original is the lack of focus on the military's point of view this time around. We spend the duration seeing the events from the perspective of the leads and various other townsfolk. While the POV shown in the '73 film did offer some levels of interest, I think it works better as far as menace goes to not do that here.

The crazies themselves are well rendered, each person reacting differently to the virus. Some are completely gone while others still retain some semblance of a thought process, the hunters for instance. After seeing the trailer, I was worried that they'd turn this into another zombie movie, but I was happy to see that wasn't the case. Speaking of the crazies, Lynn Lowry (of the original, Shivers, I Drink Your Blood, etc.) pops up very briefly as one of them. A nice little nod there, and I noticed another potential nod to a similar film, 1984's Impulse, in which contaminated milk leads people to act on their base impulses. A scene of Olyphant running after a mysterious vehicle that has been documenting the carnage mirrors a sequence from that picture. Also of note is Maxime Alexandre's gorgeous cinematography. Eisner was smart in getting him, as he's done equally stellar work for Alexandre Aja in the past. Thankfully, the use of CGI is minimal. In fact, I don't believe any pops up until the end, and when we get to that, it actually works just fine.

The film is peppered with a number of suitably tense set-pieces, particularly one involving a pitchfork, a scene in a car wash and the aforementioned ending. On the downside, there are a few cheap jump scares thrown in. The music also struck me as being rather pedestrian at times. Overall though, I can safely say I'll be returning to this one more often than the 1973 effort.

A Clever Horror Film

[kennychaggerty · 7/10 · 29 March 2010]

Although recently I have seen quite a few horror films, I am not very familiar with the original horror classics made by George Romero. Most of them are supposed to be thrilling and much better than the modern day remakes, yet I did enjoy Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead (2004). Originality is hard to develop in horror films because most audiences have seen everything before in previous motion pictures. You can make a blood-splattering zombie, vampire, or serial killer movie but chances are another filmmaker has already created a film with a similar story, bigger stars, and more gore. Yet every once in a while a director will come up with a clever story in order to make up for the lack of innovation in modern horror films. Last year's Paranormal Activity (2009) is one of those exceptions and so is Breck Eisner's The Crazies (2010).

If our own government accidentally dropped a biological weapon on a small country town, would it take precautions to cover it up or would it admit the mistake and take necessary measures to help those infected? This is the situation in The Crazies, in which each family of a small town in Iowa begin developing violent symptoms and start losing their minds. One day at a high school baseball game a local farmer comes onto a baseball field with a double barrel shotgun. After failing to talk the crazed man out of dropping the gun, the local sheriff named David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is forced to shoot him. At first it is believed that the incident was a consequence of the farmer drinking too much but soon other citizens of the town begins acting in a familiar way. One man burns his house down while his wife and child are locked within. Another man appears to have lost the ability to speak. Confused about what is happening, David and his deputy go searching for possible leads to what could be causing the disturbing behavior of the locals. In their search they discover a crashed plane underneath the town's river and they soon see that it is no coincidence that those who live closest to the water supply are slowly developing symptoms of the strange disease. A few days after the first signs of the virus, military personnel suddenly appear and take everyone in town into custody. At the military base, David and his wife are separated because it is believed that she has been infected. The rest of the film follows David's journey to try and save his wife. Can he trust the government to do the right thing and take care of his wife or is he the only one who can save her? Although the Crazies themselves are entertaining, it is nothing viewers probably haven't seen before. They basically act exactly like zombies minus the biting. What separates this film from other horror films are the emotions shared by the main characters and the political questions brought up about how our government might handle the accidental insurgence of biological weapons on U.S. soil. Naturally every character begins to become paranoid over the fact that his or her friends and family may have become infected, yet how to you deal with knowing that your loved ones will soon become uncontrollably disturbed and may try to kill you. It is amazing, yet understandable how people's personalities can suddenly change at the first sign of any danger.

Overall, The Crazies has enough action and gore to satisfy horror movie fans, but is also clever enough to separate it from most other modern horror remakes. So far this has been the biggest surprise for me in 2010.

I believe they prefer to be called "sanity challenged"

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 28 April 2010]

I wasn't expecting a ton from this, and honestly only recently became interested in it. Not having watched the original(I wouldn't mind doing so, I like Romero a lot), I can't make any comparisons. I agree with those that put forth that this doesn't go anywhere the genre hasn't been before, and that the presentation itself doesn't either, however, it is a largely solid entry(that certainly delivers), and that deserves recognition. This is intense from start to finish. The reason it is, and why it works, is that character development and build-up of atmosphere are smooth and occur as a by-product of what happens. Instead of slowing down in pace to flesh anyone out or very clearly set something up, it manages to do both in a natural way. It feels realistic, to an extent. This is terrifying, eerie and creepy. There are a handful of cheap tricks used, and there are many jump scares. Not everything leads anywhere, though the pay-offs tend to be marvelous. I applaud the psychology that does make it into this; some paranoia and you do get glimpses of the impact it has on people to be in an unnerving situation for a long time. The dialog has great moments. Editing and cinematography are mostly good, with a few exceptions where you can't quite tell what's going on. The FX are excellent in all respects. There is plenty of bloody violence(at times brutal) and disturbing content, a little gore(nearly invariably impeccably effectively used), and occasional strong language in this, and none of it is gratuitous. I recommend this to every fan of horror. Not an action flick, not a revolutionary piece, but definitely an enjoyable trip to the cinema. 7/10

You don't have to be crazy to watch this (but it helps)

[bowmanblue · 7/10 · 14 October 2014]

'The Crazies' (2010) is a remake of zombie-maestro George A Romero's 'other' film from the seventies. Most people only know him in connection with his Night/Dawn/Day/Land quadrology, but he also made The Crazies back in the early seventies. It was basically a zombie film by another name; instead of the undead you had people infected (in the non 28 Days Later kind of way) with a contamination which basically meant they go nuts (or crazy, basically).

If you've seen the other remake of George A Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead (2004)' then you should kind of know the 'look and feel' of the Crazies' remake. It sort of feels like a compendium piece to Dawn's remake, even down to having a Johnny Cash song over the opening credits.

We have a place crashing a toxic chemical which gets in a small American town's water supply, making everyone start killing each other. Naturally the Government is on hand to generally mess things up for the hapless townsfolk who have already started to murder each other in various grisly ways.

The story follows the sheriff, his doctor wife, his deputy and another girl as they desperately try to flee the town while being pursued by nut-jobs, the government and the paranoia that one or more of them may well be infected.

It's not the most mind-blowing of premises, but it does the job. It's not original enough to really stand out. I suppose the most different aspect to it is that the 'infected' or 'non-zombies' (or whatever you want to call them) do still retain enough intelligence to generally act a little difference to your average undead menace (you don't get too many zombies driving cars and firing shotguns at our heroes!).

If you're generally into your zombie movies then this one will do the job. It has enough of a budget to raise it above the bucketload of B-movies who are using the 'zombie craze' to sell itself and the cast, although nothing out of the ordinary, do enough to make us root for them.

Nothing too memorable, but nothing too awful and will certainly entertain any horror fan for an hour and a half.

Well made.

[Rex_Stephens · 7/10 · 26 February 2010]

Not your run of the mill horror movie, The Crazies is a respectfully updated version of the original. It's not about blowing stuff up and gore and frightening chills but truly about surviving the errors and mistakes that have been created by the US. All from a downed plane. You enjoy the visual and the change of pace as our protagonists dodge 'crazies' and the military. It all works and falls into place, which is funny because some movies can get away with that yet most don't. The Crazies is what I hoped 28 Days Later would have been essentially and I recommend the film for fans of the zombie genre. With the exception of some overlength, the wit and intelligence of the script will give the film some decent legs, if not on screen, then guaranteed in the long run.

Simple Old Fashion Horror

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 1 January 2014]

A transport plane crashes into the water supply of a small Iowa town. Some of the townfolks become infected and turn crazed killers. Sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson), and a girl from town (Danielle Panabaker) need to escape not only the crazies, but also the military sent to contain the population.

This is remake of a George A. Romero movie. It's not that complicated. It is a horror movie done classically without the jokey references or overt sexualization. There are no gross out jokes or T&A. It is just simple tense horror done right. The scariest scene has to be the women tied down on the gurneys, and a crazy walks in. If you want simple horror, this is all you need.

Reasonably good depiction, realistically done, of something that MIGHT actually happen

[RichardSRussell-1 · 6/10 · 22 March 2010]

The Crazies (1:41, R) — Borderline, 3rd string, remake

Pretty sad that this retread is the best SF&F film of 2010 so far, tho still not one that I'd really recommend. Here Timothy Olyphant, in a big-screen stopover on his way between portraying a sheriff in HBO's Deadwood and a sheriff in FX's Justified, is cast against type as … a sheriff.

The film wastes no time getting right into the meat of the story, as the opening scene shows a town in flames, littered with wrecked vehicles. We cut quickly to "2 days earlier", opening day of baseball season in the little town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa (pop. 1260), as Rory Hamill, the town drunk — expressionless, disheveled, wearing grimy overalls — walks onto the field with a shotgun. The players scatter, and Pierce County Sheriff David Dutton (who apparently knows everyone in town on a 1st-name basis) walks out to calm Rory down and persuade him to put down the gun. It doesn't end well.

Over the ensuing day or so, a number of other town residents start exhibiting strange behavior: subdued, listless, forgetful. Some of them show up in the office of the town doc, Judy Dutton (Radha Mitchell), the sheriff's pregnant wife. But she can't find anything wrong with them beyond a slightly elevated temperature, and they agree. "{My wife} worries too much. I'm fine. Just a little tired.", says one man. Then, moments later, he says it again. He'll be the next one to wig out.

Intercut among the scenes of tranquil rural life are quick shots from satellite recon cameras and, later, from inside a mysterious black SUV with tinted windows. This gives us reason to think that there's more going on than, say, H2N2. This is confirmed about the time the sheriff does a little detective work to discover that the craziness is probably due to contaminated water flowing downstream from the village's eponymous marsh, and the overhead view gets an ominous new caption: "Initiate containment procedures".

From there on, it's the sheriff, his wife, his chief deputy (Joe Anderson as the decidedly non- Barney-Fife-like, competent, reliable Russell Clank), and teenage candy-striper Becca Darling (Danielle Panabaker) against the crazies themselves, vengeful relatives, panicky townspeople, well armed rednecks, and hordes of gas-masked soldiers who themselves aren't quite sure what they've been ordered to do but aren't about to take any lip from civilians, badge or no.

Things go to hell pretty realistically, there aren't any unbelievable heroics or faky jumpatchas, and there's a serious effort made to field a plausible scientific explanation for everything. Indeed, that very plausibility prompts me to classify this film as borderline, rather than pure SF, since it's something that arguably could happen in real life.

Does it all turn out OK in the end? That would be telling, wouldn't it?

George A. Romero executive produced this remake of his 1973 film of the same name, which was set in Pennsylvania. (You may recognize him as the man behind the original 1968 Night of the Living Dead and its many remakes and sequels. Apparently he's a guy who believes in milking the cow until she implodes.) I never saw the original, so I can't say whether it meets my standard test for whether a remake is justified, namely that the original idea was poorly executed but worthy of being done right.

The 2010 edition, considered all by itself, is reasonably good but by no means a must-see.

The Crazies neither drives audiences ballistic nor restores their sanity

[TheDeadMayTasteBad · 5/10 · 27 February 2010]

Even outside the fact that The Crazies is actually a remake of a 1973 George A. Romero film, I have a feeling most audiences still have the "infection" flicks of the past decade still fresh on their minds. Over the past ten years, we've endured quite a few and several have even packed quite a bit of wallop (28 Days Later, Planet Terror, etc.). While I feel Breck Eisner's 2010 redux of The Crazies isn't anything new in this regard, I still found myself entertained over the course of the 100 minute runtime.

This may have something to do with the fact that I grew up in a small town in southern America not too unlike the isolated Iowa setting of the film and I can recognize the small town obsession and paranoia of larger political/governmental interests heaving themselves on the livelihood of small town folk and invading their way of living. That idea has been exaggerated in a worst-possible-scenario with The Crazies. The remoteness of the society works to the advantage of the film quite well. Perhaps even too well as some audience members may wonder where the rest of the world is when all of this is happening. The American media of all shapes and forms would have had a field day reporting over anything vaguely resembling this mess.

The direction is impressive with much attention to detail taken from behind the camera. It's especially comforting that the director didn't depend solely on violence. Eisner even cuts away from some of the more graphic "impact" moments, coincidentally making more of a psychological impact on the audience.

The film moves with brisk pace as our heroes struggle to survive the unthinkable. Eisner, like Romero, is astute at making Hazmat suits and the traditional gas mask into terrifying images. The very presence of such an image confronting you effectively sends a feeling of utter helplessness into the audience—as if you are caught in the middle of something far beyond your control. Our central characters seem vulnerable and "exposed" at every turn as a result while scary military men in full bio-garb follow close at their heels.

There are some issues that prevented me from loving the film, though. The script could have used a little work as plot holes were easily noticeable and characters were either very thinly developed or, at times, made ridiculous decisions. Like another recent "zombie" film, Zombieland, occasional over-the-top actions of some of the characters seemed out of place. There is very little, to no, character development in the film and most of the roles are simply caricatures we've seen in countless other movies. Thankfully Timothy Olyphant (whom has been on my radar since Deadwood), Radha Mitchell (who's becoming somewhat of a scream queen, isn't she?), and a surprising performance from Joe Anderson add credibility to such events.

Many twists and turns the film takes aren't very surprising, but The Crazies manages to keeps atmosphere flowing throughout most of the films scenes. While protagonists investigating barns and being captured by increasingly menacing foes becomes rather monotonous towards the films conclusion, the film just manages to get away while not overstaying it's welcome.

Eisner is apparently in the mood for more of this horror remake mayhem since he's already in discussions to potentially direct remakes of The Brood and Creature from the Black Lagoon. As for The Crazies, this venture does its original quite a bit more justice than many of the others we've received as of late. For a visually pleasing and entertaining horror movie, The Crazies neither drives audiences ballistic nor restores their sanity.

Related Recommendations: 28 Days/Weeks Later, Children of the Corn, rec, Quarantine, Planet Terror, Dawn of the Dead, Carriers, The Stand, The Crazies (1973)

Underrated

[rssunjoy · 9/10 · 28 February 2017]

Well acted, no stupid characters, decent dialogue, and very few plot holes. Why didn't this movie get more recognition? I remember being super excited for it to come out and it meeting all of my expectations.I would really recommend seeing this and adding it to your list of great horror movies produced in the 21st century. There are so few.

Better Than The Original

[montera_iulian · 7/10 · 30 April 2010]

Few remakes are as good as the original or even better especially if you're talking about horror movies.

This is one of the movies that in my opinion is better than the original or at least at the same level. The plot is simple, the fact is that this movie is similar to 28 Days Later. A virus carried by a plane to be destroyed spreads through a little American town due to the plane crashing in a nearby river and infests all the people in the town. The action is handled very well and is I must say intense. The sound editing is great and I really liked the score to this movie just because it made it more epic. The cinematography is better than most of the similar movies today and it raises the bar of this movie.

The acting is very good, Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell who is hot as always gave a sense to this movie as far as acting and character development. This is one of the movies that you can't find too many mistakes till it hits you with the end. In my order the end was a little bit forced with the big explosion and the truck doing like 80-90 mph and escapes in like less than 30 seconds which is ... *sigh* but at the end this was an entertaining movie and a real good remake of the first movie from 1973 and I must say better.

"The Crazies" (2010)

[colinrgeorge · 5/10 · 6 April 2010]

"The Crazies" is not scary.

"Horror" has come to mean something very specific to Hollywood, and perhaps more than any other genre, is withering from a lack of creativity. The horror film should unnerve, disorient, and startle—qualities that evaporate when imitated. The formulaic scare tactics of "The Crazies" and its contemporaries are so well established that their effect on audiences now is negligible. It's compounded by the remake phenomenon, and though you can put a fresh coat of paint on a forty-year-old film, can you really expect it to frighten anybody?

I suspect fans of the genre aren't even showing up to be scared anymore. How can they be? They know the rules. What passes for great horror today is really 'horrortainment:' competent atmosphere and innovative gore slapped on an obvious template. And such has been the reaction to "The Crazies," which has a relatively high 72% Rotten Tomatoes metascore, based on 130 reviews. The consensus is that the film is "uncommonly intelligent," without reference to the embarrassingly low mean intellect of 21st century horror.

And "The Crazies" does have competent atmosphere, though it's merely that. Following a promising start, the film still suffers from the stilted predictability that plagues the genre at its worst, and it shouldn't be praised for performing above a very low average, especially when nothing interesting happens after the first twenty minutes.

There's a gravity to act one, before the meddlesome government steps in and f***s up the film, with attention paid to the fact that the Crazies are our (suddenly creatively homicidal) friends and neighbors. There's your movie: what does it mean to be brutally attacked by the people you love? Why don't we leave it at that and do away with this trite big brother/quarantine shtick? All it nets us is regurgitated social commentary, a half-hearted compound escape sequence, and a film that's approximately 30% walking.

And the walking dissolves into more walking, which is intermittently punctuated with exactly the sort of scenes you would expect in a post-apocalyptic zombie flick. Where do we go? Is one of our party members infected? Why don't you wait in this dimly-lit diner alone while I go do something important?

An occasional effective jump scare, menacing visual, and suspenseful moment aren't enough to make up for a wholly second-rate script. It all goes back to that first sentence. "The Crazies" is not scary. And it's not scary just because it doesn't surprise us, but also because it exists in a world without consequence. Early in the film, a son and his mother stow away in a coat closet to hide from her infected husband. When dad finds them, he doesn't yank them out—He locks them in and sets the house on fire.

Okay, you got me—Now what? We cut out of the scene and never see any of the characters again. What? If you really want to horrify me, stick me in that closet with the burning family. Let me feel the smoke inhalation and smell the singed flesh.

Like comedy and laughter, if a horror film finds a way to frighten this jaded moviegoer, I'm more than willing to overlook its flaws elsewhere. But the last thing I should ever feel is comfortable—No, scratch that. The last thing I should ever feel is bored, and "The Crazies" is a boring film. It's objectively a step above "Legion" or "The Wolfman," but I suppose that's what passes for praise in the current horror climate.

The best not-a-zombie flick I've seen in years

[rooprect · 17 August 2017]

I didn't know diddly squat about this movie before I saw it, and that's how I recommend you see it also. The back of the DVD case sorta spoils some of the fun, so avoid reading it if you can. All I'll say about the plot is pretty evident from the title and cover picture (a blood drenched pitchfork). This is a movie where chances are you're gonna see someone get it with a pitchfork.

The overall story and theme reminded me of the classic thrillers of the 70s, so it came as no huge surprise when I learned that this was a remake of a 70s George Romero flick. By comparing it to 70s thrillers I mean to say it's the story of a lone protagonist or small group fighting against a grossly overpowering enemy. This sort of "hopeless underdog" theme was probably a result of the political climate of the 70s, when people were waking up and realizing that our beloved guv'meant and friendly corporations were sucking us dry like a 2 hour old wad of Bazooka Joe bubble gum. So this distrustful awakening spawned excellent conspiracy flicks like "Coma", "The China Syndrome", "The Andromeda Strain" and "The Stepford Wives" which flew in the face of the traditional tale of a superhero good guy vs. a clear and present danger, instead showing a more disturbing scenario of a protagonist at the mercy of a far more insidious and often faceless enemy.

What, you're saying? Then who's the dude with the pitchfork? Well broadly speaking, again as you might guess from the title, the enemy is an entire town gone crazy. That's what makes this hit home. With the enemy being our neighbors and friends, it's not like we're threatened by a fantasy 2-headed space beast. Instead the threat is something that exists around all of us. As the actors mention in the "behind the scenes" DVD feature, this is the terror of something safe & familiar which is turned upside down.

In that respect it reminded me of another excellent thriller, "The Strangers" about an ordinary couple terrorized by ordinary people in very un-ordinary ways. Again, no supernatural monsters or (as my title says) no "zombies" are required to instill perfect fear. This is the sort of movie that'll leave you thinking "wow, that really COULD happen." That's the mark of a truly terrifying story.

The acting is fantastic, and although I had never seen any of these people on screen before, I instantly liked every one because they seemed so real and personable. My favorite character was "Russell" who plays a harmless sheriff's deputy, but as the film gets darker, he too becomes more fidgety and cynical to the point where you're not sure what's going on in his head.

Special effects are really good. No obvious cgi garbage. Yes, the film crew really did roll a few trucks and trash a few streets to make the carnage authentic. Makeup also is really convincing, so much that it's more disturbing than the actual gore (which surprisingly there isn't a whole lot of; most of the violence is handled quickly from creative angles that pump up your imagination).

Entertainment value: 10/10. This flick hits you from the very first scene and keeps the suspense rolling through the whole thing. The scares are well placed. Things remain tense without the need for unnecessary kitschy horror clichés... although there's at least one scene where the movie isn't afraid to make fun of itself a little. I'm talking about the over- the-top bone saw scene which was as much comedy as it was horror. Lots of reasons to see this movie so go out and rent it already. You'll never see your neighbors, or pitchforks, the same way again.

Tight Horror/Thriller to be seen

[john32935 · 7/10 · 8 February 2015]

This remake takes the plot line of classic horror story and elevates it above the norm for the genre with the use of tight pacing, good acting and great cinematography.

This is a tried-and-true formula movie of friends and neighbors strangely turning into murderous "zombies" due to some unknown infection and how our heroes survive despite all odds. The original was made in 1973 and, true to the era, casts the government as the bad guys - having created this infection as a biological weapon. The original movie split the point-of-view between the townspeople and the government agents so the plot was more apparent from both sides. The remake keeps the same antagonist but does not try to reveal the government's plans or voice the government's justification for the actions undertaken. The result is that the heroes and the audience are kept in the dark for a longer period and the tensions are increased accordingly.

One point of differentiation between this movie and other "zombie" movies is that the creatures do not seek to eat the flesh of the humans (thereby reducing the gore factor but there is still plenty of scene that are unsettling) and retain a sense of their actions (allowing them to seek revenge and work in teams). Yes, teams of zombies working together. Scary.

While I generally do not like horror movies, I would almost classify this more as a thriller with some sic-fi and horror elements. And the elements work quite well together.

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The Crazies Swung But Missed a Few

[jdrockovich · 7/10 · 19 July 2010]

Don't get me wrong I love the zombie/infection genre and there's nothing I love more than blood, guts, and...well, more blood and guts but this movie just fell short for me. It seems like every zombie/infection movie story has been expired for the past few years, Zombieland being an exception...kinda.

The Crazies starts off, well, crazy and ends crazies, which that's probably why it's call that in the first place. This movie display a rather generic story. Everything is normal, stuff hits the fan, military comes, military loses control, main characters make a journey to a better place, and bomb hits infected town. I'm not saying I hate this clone of a story mainly because they aren't really "zombies" but the same diagram applies.

This movie was bad and it wasn't good. It was slightly above average and that's not too shabby in my book to begin with so. They didn't try anything original but one of the aspects was a tad different which ain't to shabby either. Originality is really what made this movie not as good for me.

Rating: 7/10 Final Words: If you like zombie/infection movies then go and rent it. If you don't watch movies that aren't a 8 or more in rating then this movie might not be for you.

Better than expected

[JudasXMachina · 7/10 · 18 October 2013]

Why wear a seatbelt? Every movie I've ever seen has people in horrid accidents just walking away.Anyway. This is not a zombie movie. Well, not per se. I will say that I have watched horror movies since I was young and they never scared me (or few did). In the last decade or so I haven't lost any sleep over a scary movie... I think I might lose some now. I kind of had an idea where this movie was going, but there were enough completely random deaths to keep me worried. At points I actually felt nervous. If you are a fan of the genre, or just want a good scare, go ahead, pop some popcorn, and lock your doors and hide from your neighbors.

"Not Bad!"

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 23 November 2014]

Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson and Danielle Panabaker star in this 2010 sci-fi/horror remake of George Romero's 1973 film. This takes place in Pierce County, Iowa and Olyphant (Scream 2) plays Sheriff, David who has a wife, Judy (Mitchell), a doctor. Soon, some of the town's residents commit violent acts of murder and David learns they're infected by an unknown virus created by the military that's contaminated the water supply. When the town becomes contained, David and Judy fight to survive. Anderson plays David's Deputy, Russell and Panabaker (Friday the 13th) plays Judy's assistant, Becca. This isn't bad, the cast is decent and there's good make-up effects. I recommend this.

Absolutely killer

[cpbadgeman · 8/10 · 1 March 2010]

It is clear that the current cycle of horror remakes is far from over and the results so far have for the most part been surprisingly good. This trend continues with 'The Crazies'- a reinvention of George Romero's little-seen 1973 original. The plot is beyond simple: a biological agent gets into the water supply of a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh and turns the inhabitants into homicidal maniacs. Things get even worse when a US Army unit initiates a brutal containment operation where shooting first and not bothering to ask questions is the order of the day.

The film wastes little time building up to the first outbreak of insanity and then chillingly portrays how the town's social fabric is obliterated at break-neck speed. There is an abundance of scary moments, inventive gore, and even some very black humor. Some moments are so intensely suspenseful that time seems to practically stand still. All the cast play their parts well; including Timothy Olyphant as the town sheriff, Joe Anderson as his deputy, and Radha Mitchell as the town doctor. The minimalist soundtrack is also strikingly effective. All in all, this film is a treat for horror fans and for anyone looking for an intense night out at the movies.

A nice surprise

[TheMarwood · 7/10 · 28 October 2014]

I always do my best to go into a film with an open mind and leave most preconceived baggage out of the experience, but The Crazies had so much that had me sharpening my knives to eviscerate it. Directed by a nepotism flyweight, who's daddy used to run Disney and directed one of the biggest flops of the decade - a remake of a less than stellar George Romero film - a title that just sounds silly on a slick studio production and sounds designed for cheap exploitation - a cast capable of good work, but with careers of varying quality control. So it was a complete surprise that The Crazies is a damn fine horror film. It's well directed, acted and has a mounting sense of dread, as well as some humor. There's no fat on this film and the mayhem begins from the first scene. The surveillance effects during the first 15 minutes or so are unnecessary and a crazed man terrorizing his family before setting the house on fire, has plenty of familiar horror tropes that you've seen a thousand times - but those are minor complaints. Most of what unfolds plays out well, even with a few bumps along the way - a visit back to our two leads home where a hostage situation takes place should have been cut. There are some great set pieces, especially one involving some serious misuse of a pitchfork. The Crazies delivers the goods.

Nothing more than a comfortable exercise in modern film-making.

[Cinema_Fan · 4/10 · 28 February 2010]

This latest doppelgänger of the horror genre can very easily be read as a formalistic adventure that takes its heart and soul from the 1973 film of the same name, and directed by, no less, George A. Romero. This new adaptation fairs well in the predictability arena and holds no punches when it comes to packing any surprises. It is not so much that it is a regeneration movie but that now we have become too staid within the confines of this genre within the last three decades or so.

Then, the new age of horror movie makers such as Romero, David Cronenberg (Shivers-1975, Rabid-1977), Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left-1972) to Abel Ferrara (The Driller Killer-1979) was, literally, scaring the hell out of their newfound audiences with breaking down the barriers of conformity. Today, with the remake horror genre that has spread so quickly like a virus across our cinema screens, the horror genre has now turned into pastiche and repetitive, formalistic cliché. Breck Eisner's work here is no different.

It's a fair attempt and does, occasionally, exactly what it sets out to do, to scare the viewer, but, in the same breath it also has no deep seated anxiety attached to it, no deep rooted connection for any of its players' in so much that we are not given the opportunity to bond, and ultimately, mourn their passing. The prime example here is the family brunt to death in their home and particularly "the man with the garden fork" and his killing of those strapped to the bed, there is just no tension to highlight the severity of the situation, no personal anguish for those in need. The whole setup from its first frame is all so predictable as to the mans own fate that the whole sequence becomes just a passing moment that only succeeds to pass one sequence to another with obvious conclusion.

With experience, and hindsight, we know better than to judge this as nothing more than middle-of-the-road horror, that shares the same ethos as its contemporises and this too lets itself down. Apart from everything else in contention, there was just no gain in its ploy not to evolve it players in a deeper and richer relationship with its audience. If there had been more time available, would we be feeling pity for those strapped to their hospital beds, burnt in their homes or exterminated and thus highlighting the need to feel less distant and indifferent, and too, feeling more in shock and disgust in their demise? Is this the premise of what "horror" is, to lets its audience "feel" shocked? To enter into their subconscious? Instead of relying, at times, only on the sensationalistic visuals of shallow character development and jump-scares to maximise an all too a shallow experience that fills the air with empty chances and unimaginative prose?

Surprisingly better than I expected

[agentk-77301 · 8/10 · 30 March 2017]

What I really love about this movie, was the main character. He really did the whole movie for me.

Usually, in zombie movies or "OMG it's a horrible disease that spreads quickly!" movies, the characters wait around until the story forces them to act. But not in this movie! This movie's protagonist takes the initiative, he isn't waiting around to be killed once he gets the gist of things. He starts off trying to help legally, and then resorts to the illegal.

He was & is a well written character, his actor was fine as well but not something too amazing or interesting.

Pros:

Well written protagonist & support Cool and somewhat realistic plot Well done action scenes

Cons: It takes a bit of time 'till the story kicks in, but I believe it's worth the wait

A good remake!

[i-am-so-original · 7/10 · 4 July 2010]

The Crazies, a remake of George A. Romero's horrible original, stands the test of horror and actually scares the audience. With constant remakes being thrown at us today (seriously, does Hollywood have any originality left in it?), it is only a matter of time before one of these remakes hits the audience and leaves an impression that even the biggest zombie bite can't take off.

The Crazies is about a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh, where a plane crashes into the town's water supply and infects the townspeople, turning them into maniacs hell-bent on killing. Sound stupid? Well, it is. But it's the way this film delivers its plot that makes it work. While it could have been just more mindless zombie film drivel (yeah, I know, they're not ZOMBIES, but just get over it already) as seen in Day of the Dead or any other zombie film released in the last 10 years, it tends to stray away from the usual formula. Sure, we've all seen these scares done a million times before, but there's just something exciting about seeing Timothy Olyphant stab a woman in the neck with a knife, isn't there? The characters are all seemingly one-dimensional. None of them really jump off the screen, and the only character I was rooting for throughout the entire film ended up deader than Kentucky Fried Chicken. The downside to this film is that it's predictable. Because the characters aren't deep, they simply become just someone to watch on the screen. We know who is going to die and who is going to live, so when the time comes for someone's untimely death, the drama of the moment is lost because we saw it coming from the very beginning. Also, and I kid you not, all of the scary scenes from the film were revealed in the mesmerizing trailer. When the time comes for a jump scare (and there are LOTS, bad heart people beware), we know it's coming because we saw it in the trailer. Kind of takes away from it, don't you think? That's not to say that these scenes are bad, because they aren't. Many of them are nicely directed, with one or two really original scenes that stood out from the rest of the movie. I just wish the movie took more of these original approaches, because if it did, it would only have been that much better.

While we are bombarded with stupid remakes and horrible supernatural films (Twilight) being released, it is a breath of fresh air to see a genuinely scary one. Sure, we've seen these characters a million times before and we've seen these situations in every horror film ever released, but that's not to say this film doesn't do them right. The Crazies knows what it wants to be, and it achieves it. I just wish the film had some more crazy scenes!

And yes, this entire review was just a big build up to that horrible pun.

The title could describe those who think this film is good!

[brefane · 1/10 · 12 March 2010]

A murky and unnecessary remake of George Romero's Vietnam-era original that could have improved upon Romero's talky gore fest, but it quickly becomes a long- winded and repetitive chase without much suspense and even less originality. All too often, the music cues up, something leaps out and so it goes and goes and goes. The film would have benefited from a slow, eerie build-up where things are gradually revealed to be off kilter, but the film pretty much plunges into the action with minimal characterization providing little reason to care. The script might make a decent Twilight Zone episode, but as a feature film it becomes tiring long before the end. Unfortunately, The Crazies wastes a good premise and decent actors. You'd be crazy to waste your time and money on it. There's not a single original or memorable moment in the entire forgettable mess.