The Crazies

Synopsis: Imagine living in a small town where everything is safe and happy…until suddenly it isn’t. Imagine your friends and neighbors going quickly and... Imagine living in a small town where everything is safe and happy…until suddenly it isn’t. Imagine your friends and neighbors going quickly and horrifically insane. In a terrifying tale of the "American Dream" gone horribly wrong, four friends find themselves trapped in their hometown in The Crazies, a reinvention of the George Romero classic directed by Breck Eisner from a screenplay by Ray Wright (Pulse, Case 39) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a picture-perfect American town with happy, law-abiding citizens. But one night, one of them comes to a school baseball game with a loaded shotgun, ready to kill. Another man burns down his own house…after locking his wife and young son in a closet inside. Within days, the town has transformed into a sickening asylum; people who days ago lived quiet, unremarkable lives have now become depraved, blood-thirsty killers, hiding in the darkness with guns and knives. Sheriff Dutten tries to make sense of what’s happening as the horrific, nonsensical violence escalates. Something is infecting the citizens of Ogden Marsh…with insanity.




My expectations of  The Crazies was close to zero. I must admit that I had no idea it was a remake of a George Romero film. Romero is known for his zombie horror flicks and his zombie classic Night of the Living Dead. The movies I've seen by Romero are not my cup of tea. He set a new trend with N.O.L.D. by showing the zombie chewing and tearing at their victim's flesh - i.e. high gore. I need a good story to engage me. Gore. Meh. 

Had I known The Crazies was a remake of a Romero film I would have assumed  the film would feature zombies. That said, it was a big surprise to realize that's what the crazies are - zombies. These poor town folk are infected when a plane containing a biological weapon crashes in a marsh that feeds into the towns water supply. The closer one is to the main supply the sooner he or she is zombified. 

I thought the movie was entertaining enough as long as you don't ask too many questions. There are more plot holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. It helps that the main characters, Timothy Olyphant (The Perfect Getaway) and Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), are easy on the eyes. Yes, there is a trend: Timothy Olyphant = hot. 

Bottom Line: Likey       


So you tell me what are your favorite zombie flicks?