Review: THE CRAZIES - A Very Entertaining Horror Film

Director: Breck Eisner

Cast: Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, Timothy Olyphant, Joe Anderson

Synopsis:

A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness in The Crazies. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George Romero horror classic. The American Dream goes horribly wrong when the residents of this picture—perfect town begin to succumb to an uncontrollable urge for violence and the horrific bloodshed escalates into anarchy. In an attempt to contain the epidemic, the military uses deadly force to close off access into or out of town, abandoning the few healthy citizens to the growing mayhem as depraved killers lurk in the shadows. Sheriff David Dutton; his pregnant wife, Judy; Becca, an assistant at the medical center; and Russell, Dutton’s deputy and right—hand man, find themselves trapped in a once idyllic town they can no longer recognize. Unable to trust former neighbors and friends, deserted by the authorities and terrified of contracting the illness themselves, they are forced to band together in a nightmarish struggle for survival.

Review:

Breck Eisner’s The Crazies is one of the few remakes I’ve seen that I actually enjoyed. Personally, I thought was better than the original film made by George A, Romero. I liked everything I saw leading up to seeing this film, but like most horror films, I felt I was being set up to be let down. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the movie, I thought that it was damn fine horror film.

The movie starts out strong, it takes you strait to the point and into the story. There’s no screwing around, no forty-five minutes of character development before the shit hit’s the fan, the shit hits right away and spatters all over the audiences face. Okay, maybe not to that extreme, but the movie does a great job taking the audience through the movie and getting to know the characters while the horror and suspense builds on each other. 

If you’ve seen the trailers and posters for this film you know exactly what this movie entails. It’s not like there are many surprises. For example you know a guy walks onto a baseball field with a shotgun, and you also know some crazy nut is going to start killing people with a bloody pitchfork. Even though you know these things are going to happen the director did a great job keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. He was able to sustain a feeling of dread throughout the entire film, and keeps the viewer 100% involved with the story.

The film definitely doesn’t let you down with the blood and gore category at the same time it wasn’t as much as I thought it be. I was actually relived that it wasn’t insanely over the top, but it was enough to keep people entertained. I want to point out that one of the creepiest things in the movie was the sound design, that was some great stuff. Hearing that pitchfork drag across the floor sent chills down my spine, and that just one of many, wait till you hear that surgical saw. 

As much as I liked the film, it did have it’s weaknesses. These weaknesses come from the overly used cliche horror thrills. The filmmakers relied a lot on jump out scares, and those over the shoulder shots where the audience sees a threat that the character doesn’t. They used these way too much, and I think if they would have cut them out the movie would still have been just as good. I don’t think the audience would have even noticed. 

The Crazies is a very fun horror film that doesn’t insult the audiences intelligence. The movie does a great job showing the audience things to explain what is going on. The movie doesn’t rely on a heavy amount of unnecessary dialogue to fill the audience in on what is going on. I hate when movies do that to shove plot points down our throat! The filmmakers explain all this information in the way the movie is filmed. They show you and don’t tell, which I’m really happy to see in any film. 

If you like horror films then you should really enjoy The Crazies I definitely recommend it if your in the mood for a good horror flick.