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Thankfully the horror world is given something it sorely needed: a remake. But seriously, you know how I feel about these things at this point, right? So let’s just skip all of that monotony and get on with this lovely review.
In the event you didn’t already know, The Crazies is a remake of a 1973 George Romero film of the same name. It revolves around the tale of a town ravaged by disease that drives the host absolutely bat shit crazy, thus, giving them the “crazies”. And wouldn’t you know it, the military is responsible for this dastardly dilemma! Therefore, it is their job to contain it. This, of course, makes things even worse as chaos ensues.
Besides the basic plot of the film, these two movies don’t have that much in common. The original film revolved around 2 stories. In one situation you watch as the civilians fight to stay alive in the disease ravaged town and in another situation you follow the military leaders as they try to contain the epidemic. Well, apparently the powers that be felt that we couldn’t handle subplots in 2010 because the remake only revolves around the citizens of the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa.
If there’s one thing this movie doesn’t want to do it’s wasting time. Pretty much from the get go the action gets going. While in way this is a good thing, in my opinion, it seemed to sacrifice some story in the process of doing this. For the majority of the characters your not really given any back story on them, thus, you find yourself feeling rather apathetic toward them. Really the only character in the movie you’re really shown in depth is the town Sheriff, David Dutton. His pregnant wife (and town doctor) Dr. Judy Dutton is somewhat examined, but nothing in detail. I realize you don’t go into a horror movie wanting them to be 3 hour long examinations of each and every character, but at least give us something/someone to care about.
Another fault of the film is it overdoes the ol’ boo scare. It seems like the movie relied too much on them, and let’s be honest, most of them were pretty cheap. There’s only one fairly tense scene, other than that, it’s cheap boo scare after boo scare. Also, I don’t think this movie could have been more routine. It goes from point A to point B in the most basic of ways and never really deviates from the standard ho-hum horror path.
The acting is fair, but nothing memorable. It’s pretty standard for the type of film it is. It’s not “straight-to-DVD” bad, but it’s not exactly Oscar worthy either. If I had to pick a standout performance in the film, I guess I would pick Timothy Olyphant in his portrayal of Sheriff Timothy Dutton.
When it comes down to it The Crazies is a mostly forgettable film that left me feeling indifferent toward it. I didn’t loathe it as much as most remakes, but on the other hand, I didn’t exactly like it either. It’s a by the books horror film that’s as routine as you can possibly get. If you don’t go into this expecting something that will stick with you for years to come, you’ll be fine. I would recommend saving this one for a rental.
Final Grade: C
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