Reviewed By: Emanuel Caros

The Crazies was...insane.  

The 2010 remake of zombie/virus master George A. Romero's 1979 cult classic replicates the sight and feel of the legendary director's previous works; as it should, considering Romero was the Executive Producer on the film.  Breck Eisner's follow-up to 2005's Sahara successfully eliminates any memory of the Matthew McConaughey disaster through this dark and gruesome story of a small Iowa town, suddenly turned upon by its seemingly possessed citizens.  

The movie wastes no time getting to the plot, as the first scene displays the entire area engulfed in flames.  Rewind two days to a town excited for the start of spring, brought along with opening day for the local high school baseball team.  All of Ogden Marsh is bustling in the stands until a farmer creeps onto the field with a shotgun in tow.  The next twenty or so minutes move along in mysterious and terrifying fashion, as the town quakes in the aftershock of the afternoon's strange occurrence.   After another typically docile farmer murders his family, the local Sheriff, played by Timothy Olyphant (invoking his inner Josh Duhamel) and his deputy begin some detective work to figure out what is going on.  As pieces start to come together, locals continue to act strangely, and the town's creepiness alone is enough to horrify a theater audience.  The film takes a turn for the worse when the government closes off the town in an effort to eradicate the virus.  The Crazies changes from a haunting mystery to the oft-seen "civilians-running-for-their-lives" story.  

From here, the plot follows a group of (of course) young, good looking townsfolk as they try to escape the government and whatever is terrorizing Ogden Marsh.  The good-looking sheriff, and his good-looking, pregnant, doctor (what?!) wife lead the way in the effort against the feds' extreme reaction.  

Despite the stock characters, Eisner makes up for it with some truly shocking and stomach-turning imagery.  At various times throughout the film people get shot in the head, are corralled like cattle, are skewered, and even toasted by a military flame thrower; each time as surprising as the next.  But unlike the torture-porn genre that has flooded the cinema every October, violence in The Crazies aids the viewer in understanding the severity of a massive violent attack.  Somehow softening the blow is how these scenes are shot: the fire looks incredible, the angles put viewers in the scene and its hard to imagine that anyone has captured explosions on film quite like Eisner does here.  

Amidst a flurry of recent horror remakes, The Crazies, stands out by keeping the integrity of the original, while mostly avoiding ridiculous cliches.  In that respect, it was probably a great idea to keep George Romero involved in some fashion.  It makes you wonder whether all of his recent string of "...of the Dead" remakes should have gotten expansive releases.  

Despite the film's downturn in the second act, it is all forgiven with an eye-opening ending that blows the viewer away.  

7/10

p.s. stay during the credits...