Movie Review: The Crazies (2010)
The Crazies, directed by Breck Eisner, is a horror-thriller that is based in the small remote town of Odgen Marsh, Iowa. The start of the movie, much like the rest of the story, focuses on the sheriff of the small farming community, David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant). Dutton is a character that is apparently well liked by the entire town, and is on first name basis with everybody that he meets. As someone who grew up in a town of 200 people myself, I thought Eisner did an absolutely wonderful job by establishing the feel of the farm town. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody is generally happy. One of those towns that you always have to leave a hand free while driving so that you are able to wave at the other drivers on the road.
As Dutton is enjoying a high school baseball game, his deputy Russell Clark (Joe Anderson) spots something strange in center-field. One of the town’s folks man is walking onto the field with a double-barrelled shotgun. Dutton has the field cleared and tries to talk things over with the person, believing that he is just merely drunk. After realizing things are much more serious than he thought, the scene leads to Dutton regrettably having to shoot the unresponsive Rory after the shotgun is raised to eye level. After the toxicology retruns to the sheriff with a perfect 0.0 on the BAC, Dutton has to re-think things over, even more so than has had to already.
Soon after that, he ends up jailing somebody else after a violent crime. This new criminal givesthe sheriff the “same look” as Rory gave him, and stands like a statue for hours upon hours inside the jail cell. While not said in the movie, it has people wondering the cliched “what’s in the water” that’s making these people act crazy? After a series of investigations, Dutton discovers that is exactly the case. But he isn’t the only one. Before the town knows what hits them, military troops are everywhere, forcing everybody to containment site established at the local high school. If you are wondering, no, I am not going to ruin the entire story for you. What you just read was merely a setup to a very well told story by one of the writers on such movies as “The Machinist” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”.
What happens next is Dutton, his wife, and his deputy trying to run for their life, whether it be from the military, the crazies, or even possibly from unaffected civilians that are trying to take matters into their own hands, as they are out of their minds without the sickness. Eisner pushes us through a series of chase scenes that are very well done, and help push the story and entertainment value of the story. Unlike most horror movies nowadays, Eisner doesn’t rely on cheap thrills (though there are a few, especially at the end of the movie), but rather builds the tension up with every frame, so that when the scares do come, they really get to you.
The casting here was very well done. While there aren’t too many character that you see throughout the film, the major ones were hit square on the head. Olyphant plays the small town sheriff very well, someone you know you can trust and count on, but also someone who will do what they have to when the situation calls for it. His wife is played by Rahda Mitchell, who was recently announced pregnant, which played a huge part into the story. And Joe Anderson gives a good performance as the deputy– he is almost unrecognizable from his “Across the Universe” role. Anderson brings a very interesting character to the table, and helps the viewer look at the film from a few different perspectives.
Overall, Eisnar’s film is a very well done horror film that adds in plenty of action and thrills, focusing on telling a entertaining story rather than just trying to scare you with cheap thrills that most horror films seem to do nowadays.
B+
Notes: 101 Minutes. Rated R for bloody violence and language.
21 Comments
This is probably one of the best remakes I’ve seen in a long time. It left out some of the parts I enjoyed about the original but that’s okay. It was a great movie and I enjoyed Timothy Olyphant in his role. I’m getting into his performances lately.
I’m with Will @ The Film Reel. I already told him I was waiting for DVD release on this one, but I’m also becoming a BIG fan of Timothy Olyphant.
I haven’t seen the original, so I wasn’t able to compare it. But I agree on Olyphant.
Great review! I’ll probably check this out sometime next week instead of Cop Out.
Good stuff, right? Liked this one, too. The fact that the characters aren’t fucking idiots goes a long way. Not the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, but works a lot better than a lot of horror movies that have come out over the last year. Thinking this one’s gonna be trumped pretty quick by Nightmare on Elm Street, but hey, fun time at the movies all the same. Good review, man.
I’m glad you pointed out that the characters aren’t morons. I just watched The Hills Have Eyes, which has been rather warmly received (the remake) and while some of the moments felt like they could have been scary, as the situation was, the characters were so fucking stupid I wanted them all to die murderous deaths and didn’t care.
@ Dreher Bear- Thanks! That was a decision I had to make as well, and I’m glad I with the Crazies instead.
@Aiden R- Couldn’t agree more with you about Nightmare on Elm Street. The fact that it has Jackie Earle Haley in the lead is reason alone enought to want to believe that it’s gonna be good.
I’m probably going to skip this one as it’s really not the kind of genre I like. Besides, I’ve just seen 28 Days Later which seems to have a similar premise. You’ve seen that one, too right Castor? Is this better than the Danny Boyle flick? Like Aiden said, having non-idiotic characters always help make a compelling plot!
Oh I haven’t seen the Crazies. This is Red’s review Ruth
I’m definitely interested in seeing this one after reading Aiden and Red’s point of views though!
Goodness, I did it again! Sorry Red and Castor… I guess I’ll read the byline more carefully next time
Lol, don’t worry about. I don’t want to get too crazy with comparisons since Boyle’s film has a pretty strong following, but to me, it’s right up there with it. It’s not just merely a horror film, but equally a action and thriller, which helps seperate it from the rest of the genre.
Tsk.. tsk… unforgivable, unforgivable…
It’ll be a toss-up between this and Brooklyn’s Finest this weekend.
Eliminating the chance of Alice in Wonderland, Fitz? I think Brooklyn’s Finest would look more tempting with someone other than Gere in that role. It looks like he is going to be disasterous in that role. I love me some Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle, though.
This looks interesting. And yes the fact that the characters arent stupid is a huge plus. Nothin weirder than actually wanting someone to die coz they’re so stupid! In a movie ofcourse. Sounds a bit like The Happening, with the “invisible force” cracking people up.
Oh boy, this doesn’t even compare to The Happening. In any way. That might be one of the most disappointing movies in the last five years. Probably the only “Zooey” that I couldn’t finish. Crazies is completely seperate from it, and really shouldnt be compared. At all.
Olyphant is always good to watch, even in absolute crud. apart from Hitman, of course, which i will never see
Haha, my thoughts exactly.
Sadly, I saw Hitman in theater. Yes… Don’t see it
Olyphant was OK in it, but the movie itself was an enormous miss. Michael Bay probably liked it though.
What I appreciated about the film was that it was so relatively realistic and grounded in reality. This probably one of the decent horror remakes ever made.
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