The Crazies





My grade: B+

At a certain point it eventually just becomes a series of action vignettes -- Crazies in the Carwash!, Crazies in the Truck Stop! -- but it's paced quite well and features likable leads. You won't leave the theater contemplating moral quandaries, but it's still a fun horror/action flick and well worth the cash.

I mean, it's Timothy Olyphant. My man-crush may prevent me from ever disliking him.

The ending's different than the one originally shot, but I'll go into that after Friday.

I hated the dead guy in the truck. He was awful.

I'm so glad they cut that douche's screentime down to literally a split-second and hid him under a couple other bodies. I would have given it an A without him.

The specific reason this is a critical darling eludes me, but it's definitely an entertaining and well-crafted zombie film. The acting is strong. Timothy Olyphant is a charismatic lead, but it's Joe Anderson who delivers the most memorable turn. His character, a noble deputy whose state of mind grows unclear, is the most developed and electrifying in the cast of rural Iowa characters. Danielle Panabaker fares worse; her role is clearly intended as important, yet is so wafer-thin. She has no defining characteristic beyond the most fleeting and obvious.

I wish the opening act, in which the peaceful town and its inhabitants are introduced and the first signs of danger and mystery are glimpsed, was longer; had it been, the later scenes of destruction and paranoia would have more power. Still, it's not hard to root for the attractive protagonists and the individual set pieces (the car wash!) are frightening and stylish.

In terms of contemporary zombie horror as I regard it, this update of the Romero cult favorite is definitely inferior to the cream of the crop (28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead), but on par with the Dawn of the Dead update and the first Resident Evil film. It's also, as it were, far better than Romero's own recent contributions.

Recommended for zombie/horror fans in search of a fun film.

B+

I thought it was incredibly boring and dry. There were a few decent scenes but other than that, it was a complete bore.

5/10 (C-)

Hater

It's solid. Really friggin' scary. But the final gag (though obviously in step with the whole 1970s paranoia vibe the movie played with) seemed too cruel after so much suffering--I'm assuming it was Romero's.

An early candidate for worst movie of the year. Horribly directed, disjointed (everything at that military compound was a miserable clusterfuck), zero suspense or tension, ugly as hell, mediocre acting and most importantly completely lacking balls. A 69% for this on RT is baffling.

D

Did you ever think it was just you?

I saw nothing in that movie that was worthy of praise and when compared to others in its genre that do everything better than The Crazies does it, I frankly don't see how anyone could. Now, i don't put much stock in the tomatometer, i just thought it was funny to see it rockin a 69 and in the same list I see Shutter Island at 67. Yeah, yeah, different genres and all that and perhaps the critics are harsher towards Shutter Island because they're comparing it to Marty's other work, but by that token, it's still fucking baffling that The Crazies is within a stones throw of similar genre entries 10x better than it. I seriously question any horror fan that rates this any higher than average, it's just that inept. Sue me.

I assume you'll be questioning A LOT of horror fans (or they'll be questioning you )

So be it .

Absolutely nothing he said is true btw

Ugly as hell? The film's gorgeous.



The final pull-back "start containment protocol" gag was added in post. Two other endings were filmed -- one with Olyphant infected, one where they come across people in Cedar Rapids who are infected -- but obviously they went another route.

Says the guy who stated it's "really friggin scary". Yeah, maybe if you've never seen a horror movie before. The film is completely lacking suspense. After the second time someone is saved at the last second from an imminent deathblow, I was resigned to the fact that the movie didn't have the balls to kill one of the main characters. Oh, but wait, they did kill the girl right? Except we know zero about her so I didn't give a shit. All the film could muster for scares were 5 or 6 cheap jump moments accompanied by shrill music cues.

And concerning the look of the movie, it probably bugged me more since I wasn't connecting with anything in the movie, but it was that typical washed out, desaturated and mundane palette we've seen too many times. The shaky cam moments, like the saw attack, didn't help matters.

Well. You got me. This is the first horror movie I've ever seen!

It's pretty good; not as much as The Hills Have Eyes or The Last House on the Left or Dawn of the Dead among recent remakes of crappy American horror flicks of the 70s, but still very solid. It's got a terrific look to it and doesn't waste our time with obvious social commentary. The Johnny Cash song to open the thing was a nice nod to the aforementioned Dawn remake. Obviously Olyphant is the man. And it's really scary.

Good horror movie all around. Way to go, Dark Shape!

Are you shittin' me?

No. I hated the original Dawn.

No, man! They're, like, zombies...in a mall. Don't you get it, man? That's like, some amazing social commentary there. Like, woah. Take that, consumerism.

I know, right?

There's no hope for you.

Clearly. If I can't like shitty horror films from the 70s, what can I like?

Shitty horror films from 2010 apparently.