The Crazies
2 out of 5
Directed by Breck Eisner
Release date: 2/26/2010
If you’re in the mood for a mediocre horror movie with poor acting, The Crazies is just what you’re looking for.
The movie is a remake of the 1973 film by George A. Romero, also titled The Crazies, about Ogden Marsh, a small town In Iowa plagued by insanity, after it’s water supply has been contaminated by chemicals from biological weapons.
The horror begins within the first ten minutes of the film, when the first “crazy” character is shot dead during a baseball game, after he wanders onto the field and threatens Sheriff David Dutton (played by Timothy Olyphant) with a shotgun.
After this incident, the Sheriff is left disgruntled by the situation and embarks on his own investigation to figure out what drove the local resident insane. He soon discovers that a plane that crashed in town carrying those biological weapons is what contaminated the water.
Not long after, the military comes to exterminate those who have been infected, placing them in concentration camp like places. Ogden Marsh soon becomes a ghost town where the Sherriff, his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) and his deputy Joe Anderson (Russell Clank) wander around for a long period of time.
Towards the end of the film, the deputy becomes infected and decides to have his life taken in order for the Sheriff and his wife to avoid being seen by the military.
This leaves the Sherriff, and his wife as the last two remaining characters in the film.
From there on, it’s one crazy character after the other grunting and shrieking like zombies.
The rest of the film drags you for about an hour through one jump-scare situation after the other, and plenty of bloody scenes. The scenes weren’t overdone with a lot of gore, which I appreciated, but they were pretty predictable nonetheless.
The conclusion of the film shows the entire town getting nuked, as the Sheriff Dutton and his wife watch in horror while escaping in a truck they stole from an infected truck driver.
The debris from the explosion causes them to crash but strangely enough, they survive.
The final scene of the film shows Sheriff Dutton and his wife Judy wandering through a field walking towards a city that resembles downtown Los Angeles or New York.
The movie was an hour and fourty minutes long, but I think they could’ve given the audience the gist of the story in less than an hour.
So if you’re not sure on whether or not to see this movie in theatres, my suggestion would be to not spend your $9 to see it. Wait until it comes out on DVD to make your own opinion on the film.
