Let it be said that George Romero has been a very lucky man when it comes to remakes of his films. While most directors have watched their plundered film properties populate the $5 bin at BestBuy. George consistently dodges the proverbial bullet with remakes that not only highlight his politically charged and thought provoking writing, but he always manages to luck out by consistently getting directors that just “get it”.

For example: Night of the Living Dead was directed by none other than Tom Savini himself, and is already considered a horror masterpiece much like the original. The Dawn of the Dead remake that was helmed by then little known then director Zach Snyder, went on to be one of the films that reintroduced zombie films to the mainstream mind. Now his 1973 dissertation on biological warfare The Crazies is up for the remake treatment, and honestly folks it looks like his streak of luck continues.

The Crazies is about a biological weapon that slowly creeps in the water supply of Ogden Marsh, a small town in Iowa. It infects a few citizens at first, until it breaks into full on epidemic – throwing the once peaceful small town into chaos. Now if you’re familiar with Romero films at all, the military always seems to get involved, and not always in a good way. Often buffoonish and brutish, in The Crazies they are there to attempt to contain the town, only we find their methods may not be the most humanitarian for those who are not infected with the virus.

The story follows the small town sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) as they try to escape the town as it goes to hell, and save their unborn child. They are assisted in their escape by the sheriff’s loyal deputy Russell Clank, (Joe Anderson) who takes what has always been, and what could very well be a very one-dimensional character and fleshes him out quite a bit and really makes him into the emotional crux of the film.  While the film is very stereotypical at times in both plot and characters (we’ve seen this story a dozen times) it survives on the merit of its great writing and excellent direction.


The music and score in the film, while unobtrusive, did not leave a lasting impression when you left the theater. The cinematography on the other hand, took full advantage of the lush and wide-open picturesque Iowa landscapes and really used the locations to the advantage of the story, accentuating the loneliness and plight of our characters on their journey. The acting, directing and script of this film are what sold this story honestly.  Because this film could have so easily fallen into being a sad cliché of biological horror films of the 70-80s, but amazingly in the era of bad remakes it did not.  But between Scott Kosar’s script and Breck Eisner’s direction we were in very capable hands.

The acting was well done and the cast was pretty solid as well. The only weak point for me would be Radha Mitchell’s portrayal as the sheriff’s pregnant, doctor wife Judy. While being the fount of exposition, she often times came off as a know-it-all, and it made it really hard to sympathize with her at times. One scene in the beginning where she is talking to a receptionist fell pretty flat and felt very unnatural. Luckily she wasn’t left on her on her own for the rest of the film, and she had plenty of great talent to lean on throughout. But this weakness in the cast explains why the emotional strong point of the film did not rest on the expecting mother like you would expect, but the relationship between the deputy and the sheriff.

My only complaint would be the use of the jump-scares in the film, I really see this as a cheap and over-used tactic in a horror films these days. While it was not quite as bad as The Wolfman, who’s every scare in the film rested solely on this tactic; there were definitely quite a few genuine ones thrown as well to balance the jumps out. Since this was a horror film there was plenty of blood and some good kills thrown in as well. The make-up of the infected seemed to be more zombie-esque at times, but you not going to hear me complain about red-neck zombies with shot-guns any time soon. The film had some great moments horror-wise but did not de-evolve into a total gore-fest either, which I also found somewhat refreshing.

The Crazies, should be a blueprint for how horror remakes should be done from here on out.  While you can see the original in the film, they have very respectfully built upon its strengths, while quietly fixing its weaknesses. It was very reminiscent to me of 70s horror films with its plot and stereotypes, but unlike those films it transcends them with a rock solid script, great cast and excellent production values. I thoroughly enjoyed this film surprisingly, after my disappointment with The Wolfman remake I was a bit worried. Maybe the fact that it was produced by Romero himself has something to do with this?  All I can say is if you’re a fan of biological horror or infected zombie films you should definitely check this out. The Crazies is a great addition to the genre and I feel very confident giving The Crazies a 4 out of 5 Starmans.