Movie Review: The Crazies

The beauty of living across the street from a movie theater is that even when you are buried in a foot of snow, you can still go see a movie. Fun, even if the movie isn’t that great. This review is strictly for those who would even consider seeing a B horror movie called The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 film written and directed by George Romero. This new and improved 2010 version is better, but not what it should be. The large number of zombie-like* horror films released over the past 10 years gives this one a lot of competition. But let’s go back even further, to 1963, to the mother of all zombie movies; Night of the Living Dead (also directed by Romero): unforgettable because of its unrelenting and unsentimental brutality. Will any of us ever forget the scene of the little girl with her mother? I never will. It has become the barometer by which all these movies are judged. More recently, there was: Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later , Planet Terror and Zombieland, to name a few. The Crazies is not as good as any of those but it is watchable. It makes a significant social statement, integrating a myriad of similar real life nightmares that resonate with us because of their frequency coupled with the constant undercurrent of possible government secrecy. Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner – former CEO of Disney) does a respectable job directing this remake, working with decent actors but marginal material. The movie starts out strong with an excited high school baseball team getting set for their first game. A vacant looking, shotgun-wielding man walks onto the ball field of this very small, peaceful, Midwestern town. The local sheriff, played by Timothy Olyphant (tall and handsome he makes a terrific hero – see him in The Perfect Getaway), quickly figures out they have a big problem on their hands. He’s right; the locals are being driven insane by a government biological warfare experiment. You can figure out the rest. Overall, The Crazies is underwhelming and never goes for much more than loud noises and gore (there is plenty of both) for its fright factor. Wait for it to come out on cable.

*There are no proper zombies anymore. Once upon a time, 'zombie' meant a soulless corpse that walks around feeding off the living. Nowadays, more often than not, a zombie is created by some kind of virus; something that might be curable. The ‘soulless corpse’ concept is infinitely scarier because of its complete lack of humanity. The past decade has brought us the zombie-virus-apocalypse flick. The first few were good, fun, innovative. I’ve grown tired o them. Enough already!