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| Ben Sandborn in The Crazies |
Remakes are currently very much in vogue, particularly horror ones. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street(later this year) and, of course, George A. Romero’s living dead trilogy have gone through the paces; it was Romero’s 1973 venture, The Crazies, next on the list. Beginning with a Johnny Cash song, in the same vein as the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, the film has a genuinely well paced script and sense of tension throughout.
There’s no messing about and you get thrown into the action pretty much straightaway. The story centres on Sheriff David Dutton (the always excellent, despite the quality of the film, Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell, last seen in 2009’s Surrogates). They soon find out that their usually friendly neighbours are going a bit...well...crazy. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the army aren’t very helpful upon their arrival – quite the opposite, as they become an even bigger obstacle to their escape than the homicidal townsfolk.
The decision to set it in the small town of Ogden Marsh - apparently in Iowa - worked well to create the sense of loneliness and isolation around them. There are some excellent set-pieces; one where they are trapped in a car wash as crazies attack, plus another which includes a pitchfork and some unlucky people strapped to beds. It was just a shame there were so many cheap ‘make-you-jump-moments’ (with accompanying loud music stings), because it should have been above such tactics.
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The political and social commentary, which is always a large part of Romero’s films, is mostly lost in this version due to it centering on the characters escape rather than anything to do with the army. In fact, there is only one scene in which the audience get to see a human side to the soldiers, when one of them is caught for interrogation.
As with the majority of these types of films, there is an ending allowing for the possibility of a sequel; however, it is done rather cleverly and humorously here. Overall, Director Breck Eisner has made an above average remake and all in all it is a fun watch with plenty of memorable moments, let’s just see what he can do with Flash Gordon. Honestly – it’s his next project.
The Crazies official site
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