So who is this Breck Eisner guy who so handily remade George A. Romero's The Crazies? Amazingly, it's the son of Michael Eisner (former head of Disney), who also directed Sahara back in 2005 (one of the biggest movie fiascos of all time). ... One would assume that after such a failed attempt at jumping into the world of cinema we would never hear from Breck again. Thankfully he decided to re-introduce himself in a much more modest fashion - the route of the grand horror film. Back in 2008 Breck was included in the first (and only) season of NBC's Fear Itself. Surprisingly he directed one of the series' best efforts, a vampire tale known as "Sacrifice." The story involved a group of thieves who seek refuge in a small walled-off fort where a vampire is on the loose. This was an eye-opening presentation, especially considering Breck has been on a mission to obtain the directing duties for Creature from the Black Lagoon - another classic Universal feature that's been in developmental hell for over 30 years (literally every director has been attached at some point in time, including John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo DelToro, etc). ... Instead of the creature, back in 2009 it was revealed that Breck would instead be reinventing Romero's early horror feature - The Crazies.

There is something about Romero's work that lends itself to remakes. Dawn of the Dead made for a fantastic retelling. Martin would be genius for anyone willing to take a stab at it. Knightriders? ... Okay, maybe not all of his films would translate, but regardless - The Crazies does. The story revolves around a small Iowa town whose residents are slowly becoming infected with a disease codename Trixie. The local sheriff (Timothy Olyphant of Deadwood fame) and his doctor wife (Radha Mitchell; Silent Hill) slowly discover the cause and response for this infection, which includes the Government containing the small town with deadly result. The disease makes the townsfolk simple minded and easily agitated and violent - after prolonged infection the "crazies" even start pouring blood from their pores and they start to resemble zombies (a scare for me after seeing the trailer, luckily the zombie-similarity is very minor in the end result. Can our heroes escape containment or will they succumb to the same sickness as their friends and neighbors?

As said from the start - this was a great remake. It may notch a 4 out of 5 when compared to gems such as Shaun of the Dead or American Psycho - but as far as this "lets remake everything" mentality goes - Eisner did well. The cast (Olyphant in particular) were great choices, the locale was insane, and the situation was played with respect to the subject matter. No cliche characters or one-liners - just a few random "jump scares" to roll your eyes at (or jump at, in my case). ... With disease being a topic of discussion almost every time the news is on, The Crazies is just as relevant as it was in 1973. It won't go down as one of the greats of all time, but after consistent rehashes (Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Last House on the Left, The Omen, The Fog, Prom Night, etc) - The Crazies goes to the top of the heap.

I had a feeling this would be good. I wasnt disappointed in the least....

Edited:3/4/2010 6:15:12 PM (Leatherface1974)

It was good. I REALLY enjoyed it... but I had the feeling it was missing something. I can't exactly place what, though.

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Thats the way I felt about the original. Kinda missing something that I can't place my finger on.

Just saw this yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised. For a remake it was better than most, but not as good as some. Several good scares and enough gore without being over the top. Not that there's anything wrong with too much gore ;-) But after the film is all said and done, there was something missing. Be it character develpoment, atmosphere or plotholes, there was something...

Really good movie! Kinda reminds me of other films out there, but I enjoyed it.

Not enough Crazies if you ask me.

Saw the original (enjoyed it) but not too crazy to see the remake.

Saw it the other night with a friend. First let me say that I loved the original. That was the first Blue Underground disc that I ever bought. Good old fashioned stuff from Romero, alittle in the tradition of DawnOTD before DOTD. This is also the flick that introduced me to the very beautiful Lynn Lowry for which I will alway's be grateful. I love the original Crazies.

With that said, I thought the remake was alright. Not great but not bad either. What they got right this time was the cold-bloodedness of the government. They didn't waste time showing the troops and commanders having moral dilemas. The military just rode and flew in and carried out the quarintine. It's in all of these scenes that the movie really comes alive. There is a handful of 'em but the one where Mother and Son are both shot and then burned was very intense and jarring. The whole "the government is not our friend" idea is really taken to another level with this movie. The ending was awesome.

What they got wrong was the main characters. The very heart of the story. Romeros version KO's the remake in this department. I never really cared about any of the people in this new one. They changed the death of the Lynn Lowry character into a lame Final Destination rip-off. And where was the dad character and incest that I found so creepy in the original. The new death of the buddy/deputy was so stupid and contrived. The original had it much better, with him saving the day and going out with a bang. I mean he was really taking 'em down for a minute there. Remember? Somebody mentioned earlier that something seemed to be missing from this version and they were right. It's missing it's heart.

Overall worth seeing. Not bad but stick with the original. 2 and half paws.  

I thought it was a really cool movie, wasn't disapointed at all, I still like the original more an the mini comic series is pretty cool too!

I actually enjoyed the moral dilemmas experienced by the military in the original. They had a shitty job to do (stormtrooping their fellow citizens) , weren't sure they were handling it the right way, but they really had no time to waste. That's gotta suck.

Check out my review of The Crazies remake, on my new horror review site - Cinematic Horror Archive:

cinematichorrorarchive.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/the-crazies-2010/




Edited:7/3/2010 3:38:30 AM (Vlad_The_Impaler)

Finally watched this on dvd...My opinion.....Not enough crazies in The Crazies.  There should have been no one doing anything based on logic...The son and mom avenging the husbands death wasn't all that crazy and they didn't act the scene crazy!  Same thing for the 3 hunters...Would they work together to hunt down townfolk if they were crazy?  I'm thinking if they were truely batshit crazy they would have turned on each other first.  The principle (and the guy that burns down his house along with wife and son) was one of the only people that seemed somewhat crazy but he still wasn't all that crazy since he wasn't just stabbing all of the people strapped in the beds but picking and choosing.  I'd give it 2 outta 5 psychos....

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2 outta 5 psychos!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA LMAO!

Didn't like it at all.

Sorry Coffinbaby, but i thought this was superior to the original which was weak. The Crazies from Romero just turned me cold, i thought this was better and well better acted. Romero was producer and the original is damned dated, give me something modern.

Do you think this remake is as good as The Thing, The Fly, The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead 1990, Little Shop of Horrors, Cape Fear, The Hills Have Eyes, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Toolbox Murders, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Cat People, 2001 Maniacs, etc. in terms of genre remakes?