The Crazies (2010) – Film Reel Reviews

A small town begins suffering mass insanity in its citizens after a toxin is accidentally released in their water supply.

Directed by – Breck Eisner

Written by – Scott Kosar, Ray Wright

Starring – Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith, Brett Rickaby, Preston Bailey, John Aylward, Joe Reegan, Glenn Morshower, Larry Cedar, Gregory Sporleder, Mike Hickman, Lisa K. Wyatt, Justin Welborn, Chet Grissom, Tahmus Rounds, Brett Wagner, Alex Van, Anthony Winters, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Justin Miles, Marian Green, E. Roger Mitchell

Here’s a remake that nobody seemed to make much of a stink over. The Crazies was a great film but it was easy to see how it could be updated well. Romero’s original, with its small budget, is an effective flick that showcases some of the typical themes that I’ve seen in a Romero flick before. The remake didn’t really have that same message and is focused purely on the small group of survivors as they try to keep themselves from getting sick and just get out of town.

The military isn’t nearly as bumbling in this one and they’re also not as power crazed either. They’re still pretty heartless but after the crazy townsfolk manage a breakout, the military is almost non-existant in the movie. The basically pack up camp and take off, sticking to random raids here and there before retreating back to the borders of their quarantine zone. There’s also a few major plot points that are gone from the original which I missed. In the original there was a scientist working on a cure. To further point out that the military is just as bad as the infected people, he is mistakenly gunned down at the end of the film while he’s carrying the cure in his hand. So the people who were sent there to stop the spread of, and come up with a cure for the disease, are the same ones who leave the town with no hope.

Early on it's hard to tell who is really infected, but that doesn't last long.

The endings to both films are similar while at the same time completely different. The overall end result is the same but who lives and who dies is a mystery now. I wasn’t impressed with the final moments though and I prefer the original ending to this. What we get here is pretty over the top in my opinion. Its got lots of scares though which had my girlfriend jumping. There may just be too many of them though. I guess they’re effective and may work on the young ones but I’ve been around enough to know that when you look through a keyhole that someones face is gonna be on the other side suddenly.

Of course the movie also has some humour to it and most of it is between Olyphant and Joe Anderson as the sheriff and deputy. Their characters have a few back and forths that got me chuckling and their overall plot follows the original pretty closely. The biggest change here is that Romero seemed to have a message to his movie and the remake just wants to be a movie. And it’s a movie that I enjoyed.

The crazies ended up being a little too zombie for me when they're not supposed to be that way. Still look freaking creepy though!

It’s a great movie and is full of tension and some good scares. It almost lost me with its ending but the final shot of the film redeems itself a little bit, leaving us with the possibility of happiness or more madness. I prefer my endings to be without much hope, I can think of some exceptions but I won’t go into it here. It’s that final shot of the movie that really ties the original to this remake. The movie also wasn’t quite as gory as I thought it would be. There’s a huge body count but it’s shown more in a pile of corpses than it is in graphic murders. A lot of the deaths are offscreen and suggested which works well but there are a few onscreen that aren’t gory but shocked me anyway.

Seriously now, this is how everyone’s weekend should be going. First, go hit Shutter Island. Freshen up and head out for The Crazies. Both great movies and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend 2 days. But since I’ve already seen Shutter Island I’m just going to have to be happy with [REC] 2!

Under the marquee – Will