The Crazies
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker
Rating: 3 STARS
Call me crazy but I had a hoot of a time at the new horror flick The Crazies. I screamed and squirmed for the full 100 minutes.
It's a remake of a George A. Romero 1973 chiller of the same name reworked by screenwriter Scott Kosar who also updated The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
It's the story of what happens when a biological warfare virus accidentally gets unleashed on an unsuspecting small town. The infected people turn homicidal and there is no cure.
For the first 15 minutes, The Crazies felt like that classic alien invasion film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The town's police chief David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) who is the town's doctor see some strange behavior in a few locals. Their wives or children sense something creepy about them but there is no medical explanation until they pick up an ax, gun or pitchfork and go for blood. Once half the town goes mad, The Crazies feels like a better-than-average zombie movie and why not?
Romero is the man who gave us all those Night of the Living Dead movies. It's the suspense in The Crazies that makes it so much fun. There's an episode in a car wash that is terrifying. But be warned, this film does not skimp on the blood, violence and gore.
There are some clever touches that make the virus in The Crazies seem a little too familiar especially when the authorities start taking peoples' temperatures to determine who can take the bus to freedom and who goes into the barb wire camps.
If horror is your cup of tea, this one is well brewed.
It's the story of what happens when a biological warfare virus accidentally gets unleashed on an unsuspecting small town. The infected people turn homicidal and there is no cure.
For the first 15 minutes, The Crazies felt like that classic alien invasion film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The town's police chief David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) who is the town's doctor see some strange behavior in a few locals. Their wives or children sense something creepy about them but there is no medical explanation until they pick up an ax, gun or pitchfork and go for blood. Once half the town goes mad, The Crazies feels like a better-than-average zombie movie and why not?
Romero is the man who gave us all those Night of the Living Dead movies. It's the suspense in The Crazies that makes it so much fun. There's an episode in a car wash that is terrifying. But be warned, this film does not skimp on the blood, violence and gore.
There are some clever touches that make the virus in The Crazies seem a little too familiar especially when the authorities start taking peoples' temperatures to determine who can take the bus to freedom and who goes into the barb wire camps.
If horror is your cup of tea, this one is well brewed.
