Movie Review - The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies

The audio review:



I've never seen George Romero's original film, so I can't comment on The Crazies as a remake. All I can do is review the film based on the film itself, which actually makes my commentary a bit more interesting because there is no previous expectations to skew my viewing.

Regardless of the film as a remake, The Crazies feels like a contemporary zombie film through and through, even though the creatures aren't exactly definitive zombies. Director Breck Eisner utilizes his share of genre stereotypes in the movie, taking advantage of similar premises like the 28 Days Later series as inspiration for atmosphere and theme.

The plot is probably as simple as one would guess from the trailers alone: a small town is plagued by a mysterious virus (government-related) that causes everyone to go crazy. Center on a strong town cop named David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant), throw in some other victims, and let the destruction commence. The Crazies isn't out to set any minds ablaze with plot twists or original ideas, but there's a charm that Eisner infuses into the film that makes it enjoyable to revisit the facets of the zombie genre that have made it so successful as political commentary entertainment.

And yes, The Crazies does have its fair share of cliches. Protagonists are generic and weakly characterized, causes of the viral outbreak are somewhat unclear, and the crazies don't always act according to the "rules" the film sets. Boo scares abound, music stings create much of the tension, and stalking sequences are the norm here.

But it's all controlled by Eisner in such a way that make the movie a huge bag of fun. It's obvious that The Crazies' main mission is to offer up an hour and a half of as many scares as possible, to create a creepy, easy viewing experience. There's no evidence of delusions of grandeur here; instead, Eisner fashions the film with an endless parade of freaky situations, absolutely pounding the viewer with action. So the film's fast paced, and even if the characters aren't substantive, the viewer might be able to overlook it.

The biggest flaw is the ending, which seems to act both as a happy medium between potential "good or bad" conclusions and a lead-in to a sequel. Much of the film had been (mostly) realistic, but the finale throws that all away in one gigantic bang... literally. It's not an optimistic end, but it's not as pessimistic as, say, Night of the Living Dead.


For the most part, though, Eisner has crafted a very enjoyable zombie movie. It's got all of the components, and it makes use of them through engaging and original scares. The tension is pretty heavy, especially in the beginning of the film; Eisner teases us with our expectations, creating a suspense when the obvious scares don't happen. Then, he throws in some scares that do exactly what our expectations tell us - we're so confused almost everything catches us off guard.

There are some great sequences here, though they seem to be haphazardly attached. There's a few screws loose, but overall, this crazy seems to be functioning quite well as a collection of genre cliches that are both acknowledged and accepted in the scheme of things.

The Crazies on Rotten Tomatoes