The Crazies (2010)

Title: The Crazies

Rating: 15

Released: 2010

Director: Breck Eisner

Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker

Our Verdict: ** 2 Stars

In a line: Not-so-scary Romero remake

Background: Future master of the horror genre, George A. Romero, fresh from the success of his 1968 directorial début, unleashed 'The Crazies', also known as 'Code Name: Trixie' on the American public in 1973. Despite a healthy budget of $275,000, the film was a Box Office failure. Marketed around the US under a variety of names, it never made an impact or registered highly on the public conciousness. Romero went on to produce successful films such as 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978) and 'Day of the Dead' (1985). Both 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'Dawn of the Dead' have since been remade (1990 and 2004 respectively), setting a precedent for remaking Romero classics. 'The Crazies' was rewritten by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright for the 2010 remake, directed by relative new-comer Breck Eisner, in a $20million production. Romero joined the project as Executive Producer. The 70-year-old director will return this May (2010) with his 17th film; 'George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead'.

Synopsis: The film opens with a shot of a street, torn apart by both the army and the eponymous Crazies. The apocalyptic dystopia is a firm scene-setter. You instantly know exactly where this is going. The action then goes back to two days earlier. We are gently guided through the rural town of Ogden Marsh; a small, close-knit community with a population of 1,260 in Iowa, USA, as the residents gather for a baseball match. The match is rudely interrupted by a . man wielding a shotgun. Sheriff David Dutton assumes the man is drunk, and after being threatened with the gun, shoots him. Other members of the community begin to act strangely, culminating in one man killing his family and setting their farmhouse on fire. David investigates a plane crash into a river that feeds into the town's water supply. He believes the water is contaminated and attempts to shut it off. Despite this, the US military take over the town, blocking all mobile phone signals, cutting phone lines and eventually rounding up all the residents. This is massive disorientation and nobody knows what's going on. During the chaos, the military lose control of the crowds. David, his wife, his deputy and a young girl from the town are forced to flee for their lives; hiding from the military who are shooting anyone on sight, and hiding from the Crazies; people infected with a disease that either causes death or murderous desires.

Review: The opening of the film, depicting the ravished street, filled me with optimism. The town looked well and truly desecrated and I envisaged good things to come. Throughout the early scenes, introducing the townsfolk and the rural setting, one has a feeling of anticipation and that something is going to happen. There's a nice but brief sequence of hand-held camera shots following the first Crazy resident as he strides out onto the baseball field. The tension builds but never quite enough. I felt I was always wanting more. More tension, more angst, more build-ups to bigger and better scares than was actually delivered. Admittedly I jumped during the 'keyhole scene', but this was probably the only time I did so during the whole 101 minutes.

The film is obvious, and by that I mean that very little is on offer to surprise the audience. We are shown surveillance shots of the town; so it's of little surprise when the town is compounded by the military. Overall the film suffers greatly from predictability. From the moment that Sheriff David Dutton pulls of a daring rescue attempt to save his pregnant wife, one gets the feeling that the couple are unlikely to die and are seemingly protected from death by the same supernatural forces that see few Disney characters meet their doom. Even through nuclear explosions, you get the feeling that Sheriff Dutton and his wife will triumph.

I have to praise the non-intrusive score, and the great feeling of disorientation and panic captured as the military enforce a lockdown on the town. The shots of hands desperately clawing through gaps in the trucks transporting people to unknown destinations is really quite striking. The hurried and confused action shots during the 'garage' scenes towards the end of the film are also very effective. The feeling of not knowing what's going on as the military take over is very similar to that in 'Cloverfield' (2008).

The plotline of 'infected water supply sends townsfolk crazy' is one that has a great deal of potential; potential I thought would be realised from early scenes, such as the farmer attacking his family and then burning down their house. However, it soon becomes quite clear that the focus of this film is less on the eponymous Crazies and more on the central characters as they attempt to flee the area without being killed by the military. There are very few scenes clearly showing people suffering from the 'virus'. There is also a continuity issue as people initially shown to have succumb to the virus are depicted as relatively brain-dead zombies, whilst a later couple who are infected are shown to be calculating and in full control of what they are doing; strategically choosing the victims they attempt to murder.

I went to the cinema expecting to see an American version of '28 Days Later' (2002), only probably with less blood owing to the 15 rating. I was instead faced with a very average story of the local hero attempting to save his family and flee the rampaging military, with the infected zombie creatures of the title seemingly a sub-plot. The problem here is a script that takes a good idea and ignores it in favour of a much more mundane and previously seen one.

If you want an apocalyptic zombie-fest, I'd recommend you finding a DVD copy of one of Romero's classics, or giving '28 Days Later' a go. They all offer far more than this does.