The Crazies

Grim, nasty and really rather entertaining

A remake of Romero’s 1973 horror, The Crazies is a pleasant surprise of a horror movie; grim, nasty and really rather entertaining. A virus has spread through the townsfolk of an idyllic slice of small town America and it’s no surprise that the symptoms of this virus happen to include the desire to commit homicide. The town sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his wife (Radha Mitchell) who is also the local doctor, have seen the signs and are running out of time to escape. The situation does not improve when the army comes in to contain the situation.

The infection genre is certainly not a new one now but The Crazies is smart and doesn’t linger on the specifics. There are no scenes of characters shouting that things can’t be possible, no arguing with the scenes of carnage, just the grim acceptance that they are indeed in trouble and that shooting people in the head seems to work.

It’s a welcome relief from the screams of a blonde bimbo as the reception on her mobile inexplicably becomes as low as her top. There is some beautiful cinematography showing empty barren landscape; no one needs to say ‘But we’re out in the middle of nowhere’ – it’s there for all to see and again the film is far better for it. This is smart directing, still working in the clichés but in a way that won’t rub the audience up the wrong way.

Most importantly, the scares are excellent. Well timed and truly effective jumps are scattered over some terrifying set pieces. Sadly, a scene from the trailer shows the use of a pitchfork but the sequence is still a brilliant exercise in tension and fear. Those struck with the virus are certainly scarier than your average zombie as all that’s missing is the sanity chip; no wordless moans from these creeps, they’re still human. The scenes of the gas masked army are eerily effective. With no presence of murdering infected, the separation of families by these trigger happy individuals seems a horribly real prospect.

Radha Mitchell has certainly done her fair share of horror movie screaming (Silent Hill and Rogue) but as ever delivers a solid performance and Timothy Olyphant is never less than entertaining as a small town sheriff suddenly up to his ears in murdering lunatics. There is a depth to the characters rarely seen in horror movie remakes and its nice not to will someone dead and to actually care about the characters’ plights. The film certainly isn’t happily ever after, with a distinct sense throughout that on the contrary, nothing is ever going to be alright again.

Overall an excellent horror movie and perfect for a Friday night with a bucket of popcorn. Here’s to original horror. If only all remakes were this good.