Synopsis: A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George Romero horror classic.I realize these horror remakes are a dime a dozen lately but every once in a while one of them really works for me, like for example Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake back in '04. Well much like that one, The Crazies comes out with a little bit of Johnny Cash (We'll Meet Again) but then slowly builds some tension before letting all hell break loose. It's very well made, has a nice tone and pace and actually is pretty intelligent (for a horror film).
There's nothing really new here as horror films go. Most of the whole big government cover-up, deadly virus, contamination thing has been done to death, it's just that is hasn't really been done this well in a while. It's part Cabin Fever, part The Stand and part Dawn of the Dead. They do a good job of investing in the characters so you care about them, and a good job of keeping you guessing who is infected and who isn't. It delivers plenty of psychological horror that gets you to thinking, then injects action scenes to get your heart racing again.
As for true scares, there are a few jump scare moments and some genuinely creepy scenes. One of my favorites is at the beginning, as seen in trailers, when the guy walks out onto the baseball field with a shotgun. In today's society that's a scary picture because it's so realistic.
I like Timothy Olyphant (A Perfect Getaway, Hitman) and he's the main man for most of the movie, along with his wife played by super sexy Radha Mitchell (Rogue, Silent Hill). I've professed my love for her many times, I'll add that I'd fight a town of zombies for her any day.
Overall this is a slick, stylish, spooky, smart, gory remake that should please horror fans. An early candidate for my favorite horror film of the year I'm sure.
8/10
