Genre
Director
Country
Cast
Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith, Brett Rickaby, Preston Bailey, John Aylward, Joe Reegan, Glenn Morshower, Larry Cedar, Gregory Sporleder, Mike Hickman, Lis K. Wyatt, Justin Welborn, Chet Grissom, Tahmus Rounds, Brett Wagner, Alex Van, ANthony Winters, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Justin Miles, Marian Green, E. Roger Mitchell, Bruce Aune
Storyline
As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson), and a girl (Danielle Panabaker) band together in a fight for survival.
Opinion
Remake of George A. Romero's 1973 film of the same name, The Crazies is an entertaining and creepy disaster film cleverly masqueraded as a horror, filled with fright and action, that beats the original.
While the original film follows two stories - one about the civilians trying to stay alive; the other involving the political and military leaders trying to contain the epidemic -, Eisner's focuses only on the survival aspect, putting the clashes with the infected aside. But to be honest I would have liked to see more crazies.
The story lacks in originality, as it is plenty out there of films dealing with infections, zombies, army, and stuff like that - e.g. Resident Evil, 28 Days Later -, still the film is enjoyable.
Two things really bothered me about the film. The first one is that everybody is at the right place at the right time. Whenever some people get caught in a dangerous situation, someone else would bail them out of trouble. I really would have loved seeing some fights The Walking Dead style. The second one is how the infected are presented. One minute they don't understand anything, they just want to kill people. The next they are red-eyed, angry monsters like the ones in 28 Days Later. The next they are zombies with guns.
The soundtrack is quite effective. All the cast well play their parts well, and there is a strong chemistry between Timothy Olyphant, the sheriff, and Radha Mitchell, his wife.
Quotes
David Dutton: Don't ask me why I can't leave without my wife and I won't ask you why you can.
Haven't seen the original, but I did enjoy this one. Still, you're dead accurate about its flaws. Bad pun, I know.
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