The only thing scarier than the people you live with, are the creeps who live next door.  The Crazies is a fresh new twist on the zombie horror genre that delivers the suspense but doesn’t bring home the scares in the remake of George Romero’s 1973 cult classic.

Synopsis: A military aircraft carrying a biological weapon crashes near the small farming town of Ogden Marsh.  The toxins quickly spread through the city’s drinking water plaguing the towns inhabitants with insanity. The town sheriff, his wife, a nurse, and his deputy must avoid both the military and infection to escape with their lives.

The film does a great job of locking us in from the start, it doesn’t take long for before things get screwy.  Most recognizable from the cast are Joe Anderson (Across the Universe), Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill/Pitch Black), and that kid from Dexter.  The Sheriff played by Timothy Olyphant, looks like a cross between Josh Duhamel and Ryan Seacrest, but don’t let that deter you.

On a zombie level, the Crazies are a nice change of pace.  Not rabid enough to be infected like 28 Days Later, and not emo enough to be the suicidal like The Happening, they’re just the right kind of crazy.  The virus makes them insane but they are still intelligent enough to work together.  The virus could use a name change though, “Codename: Trixie?”  May be they should call it the T virus, hmmm?

One thing I really like was the presence of the military.  In too many Zombie films the military are easily over run by simple mistakes, like an unchecked door.  Much like in the original the military are a tactical precise killing machine, so much so the main characters have to run from them as well.  Favorite scene is the aftermath of the whole Car Wash ordeal with the Crazies, just to squash any remote amount of hope the group had.  A black hawk swoops in blows up the only working car within 100 miles.

This film does a great job of giving you the creeps and having on you on the edge of your seat but the scares are so cliche and easy to spot.  There’s the “Oh I better hide he’s coming to get me,” the “Oh he went away, it must be okay,” the “AAAAH!”  and the “I know it’s completely not safe anywhere right now, but you go ahead and leave me all alone, I’m sure nothing will happen.”  Another thing? Too many last minute saves. You should only be allowed one per movie, too many and it loses its effect, this film has at least five.

This film is worth seeing if your a fan of the Zombie genre, but you may want to wait till it hits DVD stands.  I think this property can benefit with another go around, hopefully with another director and writer.  I’d like to see the virus used as a weapon abroad in a place say like Iraq or Iran.  Because why go in there and kill them, when you can have them kill each other.

Grade: C+

• Tweet