'The Crazies' (2010)
Director: Breck Eisner
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Andersen, Danielle Panabaker
Following the highly successful remake of George Romero’s 'Dawn Of The Dead' I was expecting big things from this remake of 'The Crazies', yet the overall feel of them film is uneven. The story follows the sheriff (Olyphant) of a small town in Iowa who has to deal with his neighbours developing a predilection for gruesome murders and bleeding from facial orifices. The town is evacuated and anyone running a temperature is assumed to be crazy and separated. Of course, "shit gets real" when the sheriff’s pregnant wife (Mitchell) is taken and they must try to escape the crazies, the evacuation team and the town itself.
There are moments of the film that are genuinely tense and terrifying – lots of "crazies" appearing in the background, slightly out of focus, like 'The Strangers' – but unfortunately the atmosphere is not sustained. A standout scene involves one of the old style car washes that you drive on to and then the car is guided through all manner of soap and big buffers. Like any good horror film, the terror here comes from the knowledge that something’s "gonna get ya" but you have no idea what it looks like or where it’s coming from. Scenes like this simply heighten the overall disappointment of the film, as they display the craft that Eisner can employ when he chooses to. The film is not bad, just a little clunky in some places. You need to decide if it’s worth sitting through the more boring parts of 'The Crazies' for some horrifically entertaining deaths and true moments of suspense.
'The Crazies' is out in cinemas now.
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