After a strange and insecure plane crash, an unusual toxic virus enters a quaint farming town. A young couple are quarantined, but they fight for survival along with help from a couple of people.
The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.
Director:
George A. Romero
Stars:
Lane Carroll,
Will MacMillan,
Harold Wayne Jones
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.
A television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC, after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.
Director:
John Erick Dowdle
Stars:
Jennifer Carpenter,
Steve Harris,
Columbus Short
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.
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.Written by
ahmetkozan
When the sheriff discovers the military plane, a satellite records his location at 40.851216 and -94.548340. These coordinates do in fact point to Iowa, but to farmland and not to the marshes as depicted. The town of Lenox, population 1401, is the closest real town to these coordinates. See more »
Goofs
A town of 1200 people wouldn't have its own medical examiner unless the doctor was also certified. In this case it was the local mortician. See more »
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.
See more »
Crazy Credits
A scene concerning the fate of Ogden Marsh appears during the closing credits. See more »
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
76 of 112 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
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