Movie Info
Movie Name: The Crazies
Studio: Participant Media
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): February 26, 2010
MPAA Rating: R
A virus? I’m sure if you gave society a chance here, we could figure out a civil way to deal with this… (pre-2020 dialogue)
Something is happening in the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa. When Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is forced to gun down a man during the middle of a high school baseball game and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) discovers a patient has murdered his family with no prior indications of violence, David begins searching for the source of the problem…and he finds it. Something has infected the town’s water supply, and not everyone is susceptible to it nor does it have the same effect on everyone who does get it. With the military moving in to shut down the town, Judy, David, David’s deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson), and Judy’s assistant Becca Darling (Danielle Panabaker) must get out before it is too late.
Directed by Breck Eisner, The Crazies is a science-fiction horror movie. The film is a remake of the George A. Romero grindhouse cult film The Crazies from 1973 and was released to mixed reviews.
Choking? Stabbing? Frankly this is overkill guys
I saw this version of The Crazies before Romero’s version. Initially, I thought it was an ok movie, but I admit the movie has grown on me (especially considering the world events of 2020). The Crazies is a good thriller that you know isn’t going to end well.
The story essentially has three different players involved. The survivors (David, Russell, Judy, Becca), the military, and the “crazies” who are the infected. The battle pretty much breaks down to the Crazies vs. the Army and the survivors are caught in the middle trying to get out. There is the danger however that the survivors might actually be “crazies” and they themselves don’t know it. Both Romero’s version and this version could have played a lot with this idea and chose not to…but it still is a decent thriller.
I like Timothy Olyphant who has shown acting skills in shows like Deadwood and Justified so I always think he makes a good “regular” hero. Likewise, Radha Mitchell was good in Pitch Black and is more of a chameleon than Olyphant in that I generally don’t recognize her until I look her up…this also works with the movie because they are just supposed to be normal people caught in extraordinary situations.
Crazy? Frankly I find you calling me that offensive and not very PC…now come over here so I can murder you!
The Crazies invites jump scares, but the idea that an infected could be walking right next to talking one minute and trying to kill you the next second isn’t used enough. It also feels like the movie underplays plotlines with characters like the mayor and others never really factor into the bigger story. The movie shot smartly, but it feels like it misses the story at points.
The Crazies is better in the post-COVID world. We have a bit better understanding now about the spread of a virus and how people will react. In a post-COVID world of The Crazies, the sane people would also be fighting against the Sheriff and denying the problem…leaving the sheriff facing off against three groups trying to kill him…The Crazies just gets crazier as time moves on.
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