Patman

"The Crazies" is a remake/homage of the 1970's horror/thriller film of the same name. In this updated version, with Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as David and Judy, a married couple, where David is the sherrif of a small town in/near Iowa, and Judy is the town's doctor, people are becoming rather zombie-like, and homicidal-like, and David and his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson) are on the case investigating what could have cause such a development in this small, sleepy town with a population of 1,260 people.

There are plenty of genre scares and chills, but it's all done rather confidently, and the audience is on-board for most of the ride without a lot of inane and silly trapping of this genre-driven film. It's a rather scary-fun type of film to see with a crowd. It runs a little long, but overall, it knows what kind of film it is, but never loses sight of undercurrent of humanity of the characters as they fight for their lives as this outbreak threatens the entire population of the town as external forces also come into play.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Drav3n

Just saw this at a matinee show today and was really surprised at how much i enjoyed this. one of my favorite parts were when

i also had no idea that George Romero was an executive producer on this movie either. Ill definitely pick this up on bluray eventually.

gmanca

Yeah, Warning Sign was pretty good the last time I saw it and the lighting/atmosphere/Craig Safan's score is the combo that makes it work.

Larry C.

And it has Yaphet Kotto!

EdTheRipper

Loved that part as well. Good stuff.

Rival11

Rented this last night and loved it.....very surprised at how good it was. I was also not expecting it to be as bloody as it was - there was a lot of sick shit in this film.

It never got goofy either, just kept getting more and more tense and those redneck hunters at towards the end......damn.

It's been a while since a film actually had me creeped out by the villians or "infected".

Not sure about what to say on the remake thing.....I haven't seen the original in years.

Numanoid

Watched this on Blu-ray the other day, and this sums up my feelings very well.

Since they decided to do a 180 from the original and do the story from the townsfolk's POV rather than the government's, there weren't nearly enough crazies. Radha Mitchell's doctor character was completely wasted. She didn't react like a doctor would at all. Well made, but just lacking. And all the plot points were telegraphed and unsurprising.

StephenX

Classic Romero. I enjoyed the movie a lot. Better than I had expected. I did recognize the girls boyfriend, Scott, I think was his name. Couldn't put my finger on it, and looked him up on IMDB. Turns out I went to high school with him and he graduated a year after me. His name is Justin Miles, and I can remember us riding together to acting competitions together nearly ten years ago. (He was an actor, myself a stage technician and builder).

Go figure. Damn good actor too. I wish him all the best.

Abob Teff

I liked it, wouldn't go so far as loved it. I love the premise, but the movie moved far too quickly, causing it to rely on a few contrived plot devices. I have not seen the original (yet) so I cannot make that comparison.

I really felt that this would have played out much better as a mini-series that attacked the paranoia angle much more ... they could have dwelled on a few issues and pushed the edge -- Is Russ sick or is it just post-tramatic stress? Is Judy sick or is it the preganancy? What if the baby was sick and Judy wasn't (sick things pop into my head with that one)? Is David sick or is it stress?

Time in the movie moved far too quickly (we jump from finding the pilot to finding the plane to shutting off the water supply to being too late and the government closing in all within 15 minutes) which hurt the story.

I also agree that, since this was told from the townsfolk's viewpoint that there was not enough of them ... what was up with David walking down an empty street in the middle of the day? I'm eager to see the original since it is from the government's viewpoint.

Thrush

I enjoyed it. Not enough crazies though.

LiquidSky

I watched the film last night and would give it an 8/10. I'm a fan of the original and glad to see that the remake keeps the downbeat ending.

stingermck

Caught it on Blu last night and really enjoyed it. Every time Olyphant would kill someone me and a friend would say "It was justified" lol.

gmanca

Pretty good, even if it did suffer from some cliches. I do agree that there should have been more toying with the audience about the health of the group.

Troy Stiffler

I liked it's constant bombardment of dread and surveillance. The movie never really let up (like, for instance, the grocery store in 28 Days Later, or the 'life of luxury' stuff in Dawn of the Dead).

Wolf359

Just saw this and was wondering about the scene in the diner towards the end where the Doc grabs the bottle of water. Did that scene seem weird to anyone else? Like they lingered on it too long?

I thought there would be some sort of "twist" ending showing people drinking out of a water bottle labeled "Bottled at the source, delicious Ogden Marsh, Iowa Water!" or something.

Bob_Bobbson

I loved this movie. I haven't seen the original (The Blu is on my shelf though, I'll get to it eventually) so I am not measuring it against that. I just thought it was a well made film with some great acting/casting. Then again, I am a big Olyphant fan. I'd probably give it about a 8/10

The doctor was in the forground on the right side of the frame drinking the water, directing your attention to her. On the left side, back in the kitchen, one of the crazies appears, stands there watching her, and then dissapears when the shot pans a bit later.

Pixie Song

I found the movie kind of mediocre. It's not that it was a bad movie, but for some reason my expectations had been raised and I ended up dissapointed.

I love horror movies and even the cheesiest ones can scare me, but I remember thinking that they had used the same gimmicks one too many times and that it could have been a little shorter.

JohnnyMovie

Liked It and I never seen of Romero version yet and I will check it out!

Joe Buck

I rented this last weekend. Not bad. I'll probably forget all about it in time, but I enjoyed it while I watched it.