The Crazies

Director: Breck Eisner

Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell

Studio: Alliance Films

Genre: Horror

Audience Suitability: PG

Release Date: Feb. 26, 2010

Running Time: 101 Minutes

By Robert Waldman

Once in a while you get a title that says it all. The Crazies is such a movie. Rural America again proves to be the perfect stomping ground for bad things as something wicked is happening in the township of Ogden Marsh.

Out of the blue people seem to be going nuts in Pierce County. First to notice this unpleasant trend is Sheriff David Dutton. Timothy Olyphant (The Perfect Getaway) stands tall as the upholder of the law who finds himself immersed in some weird mystery that seems truly unexplainable. At least nobody local can determine what is going on.

Otherwise normal people that were friendly and decent take a turn for the worse in ways no one could imagine. Efforts to determine the cause of this strange behaviour exhibited by parts of the local population go nowhere. Even the town doctor, Judy Dutton, can find no rhyme or reason for the change in personality of local individuals who seem to be inflicted by some strange disease. Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) plays the good doctor who does her best to come up with a cause for the strange mood shifts she sees all around her but she also can not determine any medical or logical reason, let alone find any possible cure, for the ailment.

Fear naturally begins to set in as roves of deadly people roam the countryside attacking at will. Director Breck Eisner (Sahara) succeeds in creating a very haunting, eerie and even surreal atmosphere. One minute we see a nice tranquil almost post-card image of small town America surrounded by almost pristine farmland. The next second we witness a killing zone.

Horror fans may appreciate all the ghastly murders that begin. Yes, the efforts to survive and stay alive are heart-felt and nerve wracking. The Crazies is indeed nail-biting, heart pounding, palm sweating suspense. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen much of this story-line before and it has been done more effectively, as was the case with this summer’s runaway hit District 9.

Olyphant is particularly good as the calm, cool and collected sheriff and has an almost Gary Cooper like demeanour. Naturally, this story line is no High Noon but just your typical humans gone mad scenario with typical gory special effects that will appeal largely to teens who covet this brain-dead genre of sick thrills.

Read more reviews by Robert at www.moviereviewssite.com

Written by :

mutuel

 

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