The Crazies (2010)

About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

Director:

Breck Eisner

Writers:

Scott Kosar (screenplay), Ray Wright (screenplay),

Stars:

Radha Mitchell, Timothy Olyphant, Danielle Panabaker

10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Olyphant	...	David
Radha Mitchell	...	Judy
Joe Anderson	...	Russell
Danielle Panabaker	...	Becca
Christie Lynn Smith	...	Deardra Farnum
Brett Rickaby	...	Bill Farnum
Preston Bailey	...	Nicholas
John Aylward	...	Mayor Hobbs
Joe Reegan	...	Pvt. Billy Babcock
Glenn Morshower	...	Intelligence Officer
Larry Cedar	...	Ben Sandborn
Gregory Sporleder	...	Travis Quinn
Mike Hickman	...	Rory Hamill
Lisa K. Wyatt	...	Peggy Hamill
Justin Welborn	...	Curt Hammil

Storyline

As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife, and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.

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Plot Keywords:

sheriff | deputy | iowa | army | fight | 

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Taglines:

Insanity Is Infectious (UK poster)

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

18A

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA United Arab Emirates

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 February 2010 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Les détraqués

Filming Locations:

Cordele, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,194,207 (UK) (26 February 2010)

Gross:

$39,103,378 (USA) (14 May 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Overture Films, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film opens with the song "We'll Meet Again," as performed by Johnny Cash. The song is from the same album that provided "The Man Comes Around," which opened another remake of a George A. Romero film, Dawn of the Dead (2004). The album is "American IV", the last full album Cash released before his death. "The Man Comes Around" and "We'll Meet Again" are the opening and closing tracks, respectively.

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Goofs

David's gauze bandage remains mostly white, despite the massive trauma his hand receives with the knife. It should be soaked through with blood, especially after using that hand to punch people.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Becca Darling: Um, Dr. Dutton, my aunt's in town.
Judy Dutton: Um hmm...
Becca Darling: And she's sick too.
Judy Dutton: Phew, I'm going to need you to stay late tonight. You know, you should probably text your aunt - Scotty - and tell him you can't make it to the baseball game tonight.

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Crazy Credits

A scene concerning the fate of Ogden Marsh appears during the closing credits.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

We'll Meet Again
Written by Ross Parker and Hugh Charles
Performed by Johnny Cash
Courtesy of American Recordings and The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under License from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Unapologetically relentless

Having a horror film succeed on nearly every level is a rare manifestation these days; The Crazies is beyond slick, excellently acted, tense, is a remake that doesn't suck for once, and the to top it all? This re-imagining joins the exclusive club of a remake that trumps the original. (And thoroughly at that) No offence to the great George A. Romero who created the minor 'classic' back in 1973, but that movie was a poor effort in almost every capacity.

Director Breck Eisner's Crazies is moody and smart with a great sense of humour about it. It never delves into self-seriousness, not tries to be overtly political. It evokes a sort of mash-up of Dawn of the Dead and Outbreak. There are some unapologetically relentless sequences propped by unbearable tension and horror and others of pure adrenaline fuelled mayhem and action. The marriage of horror and action that worked so well in films like 28 Days/Weeks Later succeeds here as well and has enough of a personal moral stance to not seem like a cookie-cutter studio product.

In the quintessential hick town of Ogden Marsh, the small populous go about their normal hick activities; prepare for the spring plant, attend the popular town baseball games and for one young couple, prepare for the birth of their first child. David and Judy Dutton (played superbly by Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell) are the town sheriff and doctor respectively both of whom are well liked in the close-knit township. Suddenly, strange things begin to happen. Townsfolk begin acting odd, prone to violence and murder and bodies begin to pile up. Soon, the town is in disarray and thing go from bad to worse fast with the arrival of government forces who quickly cordon off the town and become more terrifying then the crazies themselves. With his deputy, the sheriff does everything in his power to get his budding family out of hell in time.

One of many things I admire about The Crazies is it doesn't pussyfoot around. There is no dull build-up in which all key characters are given an introduction. We are thrust into the action right off the start and get to know the characters as the panic ensues. Joe Anderson as the deputy gets the most interesting character arc; again I will make a comparison to 2004's Dawn of the Dead this time regarding the character of CJ which one could attribute a number of similarities, including a killer moustache. Radha Mitchell who is no stranger to horror films having starred in flicks such as Rogue, Silent Hill and Pitch Black among others is perfectly suited for the role of strong female protagonist. Olyphant who has ample charisma is also pitch perfect as the compassionate but driven Sheriff and I hope roles like this will get him the leading jobs he deserves.

The Crazies also benefits from having to real villain; it is more a movie of circumstances than black and white, good vs. evil. The shortcomings of this film are those found in many horror movies. We get jolts of sound that accompany boo! moments, but thankfully this is secondary to the impending sense of dread that makes up the movies core. The very final scene is one we have witnessed so many times before and the only thing that's comes to mind as I continue to see it is that the director does not have enough confidence in the films effectiveness. Small quibbles aside this is one of the best horror films of the last ten years and stands as proof that if care is taken all horror remakes don't have to make us crazy.

Read all my reviews at simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com