.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

I haven't quite decided if The Crazies is a perfect name for a horror film or a terrible one. If I didn't know the name came from the original George Romero film of the early 70's, I might have guessed the title belonged to a Wilder/Prior film or the next Farrelly Brothers project. What I have decided from the 2 minute trailer was the 2010 update of The Crazies looked bloody, terrifying and damn right spooky.

Traditionally, when a remake or sequel comes a calling, I do my best to seek out the original source material to get myself familiar with the update. However, I will admit to going into The Crazies without having seen the 1973 original or knowing much about the film. But what I did know, impressed me.

The Crazies stars Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) as David Dutton. David is the local Sherriff for Ogden Marsh in Iowa. Ogden Marsh is a small town. The kind of small town where local baseball games get big crowds, where the local doctors office is an old Victorian home and where everyone knows your name.

Ogden Marsh has a population of 1,260 (well, at the beginning of the film anyways) and we are quick to learn that the town is being watched from a satellite high above the earth's atmosphere.

But the town is soon thrust into a war zone. We get a glimpse of the damage and devastation at the beginning of The Crazies with a screen card then referencing "Two Days Earlier" to show us how we got there.

The first evidence of trouble comes at the local ballpark where a man with a shotgun enters from the center field fence. The man is known to be the town drunk and Dutton quickly runs out to confront him. As the man draws his gun, Dutton quick draws faster than Seth Bullock on Deadwood and shots the man dead.

A tox-report shows that the man had a 0.0 alcohol rating in his system. And, when another townie ends up just as violent and deranged after having killed his wife and child, Dutton and wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) try and put the pieces of the mystery together - a mystery that includes a plane crash, military movement and the eventual annihilation of their once quiet town.

Directed by Breck Eisner, who will take on the revisioning of Flash Gordon in 2012, The Crazies is a fun and violent experience that gives zombies guns and has a small group of survivors fighting against extraordinary odds.

Eisner moves things along quickly. The first death occurs shortly after the title credit and there isn't a false note or a scene that you could argue should have hit the cutting room floor.

It's also one of those unique movie experiences where the audience gets involved with the characters and doesn't try and get ahead of the linear plot. We do learn that the water system is to blame after a military plane carrying a biological weapon called 'Trixie' crashes into the local waters. Trixie was created to destabilize a population and turns its people into homicidal maniacs with a penchant for violence. Dutton doesn't take long to put the pieces together and utter the words, "You know what? We're in trouble".

As we watch the Dutton's in one violent situation after another, an underlying love story develops. It is unexpected and underlying, but ultimately effective in their survival story.

The Crazies was extremely violent at times. A man with a pitchfork in a make-shift hospital was truly terrifying and a woman who stands in front of a farming thrasher was a picture that could end up on the DVD cover. As we watch the town fall into madness, we learn that there is no escaping the inevitable. If the virus doesn't get you, the military will as they round up people a la Red Dawn.

By the time the Dutton's think they have escaped the town's violence, they are thrust into equal peril with locals that are amassing bodies at an alarming rate and hiding them in a local diner. And when they eventually solve this dilemma, a countdown begins over the radio.

The Crazies ends up being a smart horror film. One where characters act and think the way real people would likely in the same situation. The film is short on comedy. Very short. Deputy Russell might remind you of Deputy Wilson in Cabin Fever in looks, but his role is vital for the survival of the small group and not to inject one-liners to null the effect of the violence on screen.