The Crazies Review

I was in the mall today so I decided to catch matinee showing ($7.50) of "The Crazies". I am really pleased with this film. It's kind of if "Cabin Fever" and "28 Days Later" had a love child...it would probably be the Crazies.

(Personally, I'm a big fan of both of those flick).

Oh and seeing the trailer for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake on big screen was like an icing on the cake.

Title: THE CRAZIES
Genre: HORROR/ACTION/DRAMA
Director: BRECK EISNER
Summery: About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. (imdb.com)

The Crazies is a remake of George A. Romero's 1973 film of same name. I've seen it awhile ago and I thought it was pretty weak compared to Romero's other works ("Dawn of the Dead", "Night of the Living Dead"). I thought to myself, will the remake be any better? With an excellent remake of Dawn of the Dead, I thought to myself...maybe?

That's before I found who is directing it. The director of "Sahara" got attached to it directing this film. That's when I lost hope...and not like the director himself is responsible for the film but I didn't think Mr. Eisner had much experience to direct a horror movie...but neither did Zack Snyder. Hey, prove me wrong!

Anyway, I kinda forgot about this movie until the trailer come out. Everything about the trailer was great and I wondered if this could be one of those decent horror movies. I'm really happy to announce that the movie exceeded my expectation. When I sat down in theaters and even before the lights went off, I was prepared for just a decent popcorn flick.

I was pleasantly surprised from the very beginning. The story doesn't beat around the bush and jumps right in with opening shots that establish the location perfectly. Those were some really nice shots, I can add. Than without any dialogue we get to know the main character through a montage as he drives his car through the little town. That's very good storytelling since number one rule in filmmaking is...SHOW, DON'T TELL!

The story is very basic man vs. society that has been done many times before. The characters were great and the tension in the movie is very good. It reaches its peaks than slows down just to jump right back up. The scares follow mostly the basic formula for the horror movie but it does have few surprises here and there. Overall the action keeps the movie going as some of the dialogue feels a little stale. Nothing major thought.

Oh and I also have to add that the film has very solid cinematography. Visually, the movie is stunning and to me that's always a big plus. What can I say? I'm jealous :)

Overall, I give this movie a solid 7.8/10 - Worth checking out if you enjoyed "28 Days Later", "Cabin Fever", and "Dawn of the Dead" (2003). For some of course, the movie might seem like just a rental. It's up to you.

Trailer
imdb.com

A Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer