The Crazies

Plot synopsis:
In the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, local sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is enjoying a baseball game when it is interrupted by a local resident (known as the town drunk) Rory Hamill, who enters the outfield with a shotgun. David attempts to dissuade Rory, but is forced to kill him when he raises his weapon. David and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), the community doctor, begin to notice other town residents exhibiting bizarre behavior, including listlessness and repetitive speech. The next night, a local farmer Judy had seen just that morning for his behavior locks his wife and son inside their house and burns it down.
Learning of a pilot's body found in a swamp, David and his deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) investigate it. They discover a military aircraft that crashed into the river a few days before. Suspecting a link between the contaminated water to the residents' odd behavior, David attempts to have the town's water supply shut off, but is denied.
Soon after, all communication services are lost in town and David realizes they are in trouble. He begs his wife to leave and go to her parents' house, but she refuses. Soon after, soldiers arrive to take all residents to quarantine at the high school. Everyone is examined for symptoms of infection. Judy does not pass the examination and is separated from David. David escapes evacuation and heads back to his office, encountering Russell. The two head for the school to free Judy. At the school, the infected townspeople breach the perimeter, and the military personnel evacuate, abandoning the civilians. Judy wakes up strapped to a gurney, and helplessly watches as a crazed school director kills quarantined people one by one. David and Russell save her in time, and also find Becca (Danielle Panabaker), a hospital assistant.
Unable to find a working vehicle, the four make their way out of town on foot. They encounter Becca's boyfriend, Scotty, at his farm. Soldiers raid the farm, shoot Scotty and his mother, and burn the bodies. They learn that the soldiers have been ordered to shoot all civilians. The group repair an older patrol car in David's garage, and are ambushed by the infected family of Rory. After a struggle, Russell furiously shoots the infected multiple times. This greatly disturbs Judy, who argues with David about Russell's state of mind. On the road, they are spotted by an attack helicopter and drive into a car wash for cover. The workers attack the car and drag Becca out with a wrapped hose, breaking her neck. When the rest of the group leaves the car to help her, the helicopter destroys the car.
Russell disables a passing government car with a police spike strip. The driver reveals the cargo plane contained "Trixie," a "Rhabdoviridae prototype" biological weapon. It was en route to Texas to be destroyed when the plane crashed. Enraged, Russell shoots the driver and threatens Judy and David. When confronted about his behavior, Russell realizes he is infected and, after being disarmed, begs to go on with Judy and David. At a roadblock, Russel volunteers to distract the soldiers so that Judy and David can sneak past. He calls out the soldiers on their actions and gets killed.
David and Judy arrive at a truck stop to search for a vehicle, discovering that the military have also executed those who were evacuated. Fending off three infected, they escape in a semi-truck. As they drive away, a massive explosion destroys Ogden Marsh and causes a shock wave that flips over their vehicle. As the couple walk towards Cedar Rapids, a view from a military satellite highlights first the couple, then the city, and the words "Initiate containment protocol" appear, signifying a new containment attempt.
In the credits, Bruce Aune, a real newscaster from KCRG-TV 9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa reports that an explosion originating from the Dakon Pendrill chemical plant started a massive fire in Ogden Marsh. He says a perimeter has been set and civilians are not being allowed into the area. A Trixie-infected individual appears on camera just before the signal is lost.

Tags: mystery, murder, cult, violence, insanity, revenge

Review:
Sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson), and a girl from town (Danielle Panabaker) need to escape not only the crazies, but also the military sent to contain the population.This is remake of a George A.
Things get even worse when a US Army unit initiates a brutal containment operation where shooting first and not bothering to ask questions is the order of the day.The film wastes little time building up to the first outbreak of insanity and then chillingly portrays how the town's social fabric is obliterated at break-neck speed.
This remake of the 1973 George Romero film sees the rural Iowa town of Ogden Marsh become unhinged when it's residents begin exhibiting odd behavior, usually culminating in acts of violence.
Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is at a loss to explain what's happening to the people he's known all his life, but the discovery of a dead pilot in a marsh leads him to the answer, a downed plane infecting the town's water supply.
(If you don't like any horror films regardless, there's no way you should see this.) The Crazies is effectively scary, mixing human emotions with raw blood and gore and endless edge-of-your seat thrills..
Having a horror film succeed on nearly every level is a rare manifestation these days; The Crazies is beyond slick, excellently acted, tense, is a remake that doesn't suck for once, and the to top it all?
The marriage of horror and action that worked so well in films like 28 Days/Weeks Later succeeds here as well and has enough of a personal moral stance to not seem like a cookie-cutter studio product.In the quintessential hick town of Ogden Marsh, the small populous go about their normal hick activities; prepare for the spring plant, attend the popular town baseball games and for one young couple, prepare for the birth of their first child.
Olyphant who has ample charisma is also pitch perfect as the compassionate but driven Sheriff and I hope roles like this will get him the leading jobs he deserves.The Crazies also benefits from having to real villain; it is more a movie of circumstances than black and white, good vs.
A remake of the original movie made by George Romero in the 1970s, The Crazies tells the story of what happens after a highly infectious contagion finds its way into a rural water supply after a classified plane crashes and turns the previously down to earth townsfolk into violent rampaging killers – the 'Crazies' of the title.
But while it's easy to say that the remake is just another in the aforementioned cycle of movies, it must also be pointed that when Romero did the original, he arguably invented a new genre just like he did when he made Night of the Living Dead: as well as 'the dead coming back to life' genre, Romero gave us 'the killer virus that turns normal people into insane killers' genre.
It's one of those rare moments of credibility – and good casting - where the chemistry between two principals is so strong, you actually believe they could be married in real life and because of this, you're rooting for them every step of the way while everything around them is going to hell.There are two definite stand-out scenes in the movie: one set in a quarantine area with a group of people strapped to gurneys while a previously carefree towns person lumbers around wielding a pitch fork is chilling, while another, set in a car wash where every slap on the windscreen is to be feared, is relentlessly claustrophobic.
While I feel Breck Eisner's 2010 redux of The Crazies isn't anything new in this regard, I still found myself entertained over the course of the 100 minute runtime.This may have something to do with the fact that I grew up in a small town in southern America not too unlike the isolated Iowa setting of the film and I can recognize the small town obsession and paranoia of larger political/governmental interests heaving themselves on the livelihood of small town folk and invading their way of living.
Thankfully Timothy Olyphant (whom has been on my radar since Deadwood), Radha Mitchell (who's becoming somewhat of a scream queen, isn't she?), and a surprising performance from Joe Anderson add credibility to such events.Many twists and turns the film takes aren't very surprising, but The Crazies manages to keeps atmosphere flowing throughout most of the films scenes.
It is amazing, yet understandable how people's personalities can suddenly change at the first sign of any danger.Overall, The Crazies has enough action and gore to satisfy horror movie fans, but is also clever enough to separate it from most other modern horror remakes.
I think they would make a rockin' pair - that or possibly Stephen King's The Mist.At any rate, this is a fun film that offers all the action/suspense/horror that movies like this are supposed to do.
It's quite exciting, it doesn't really have a lot of gratuitous gore (what violence and bloodshed there is fits into the story) and there's a moderate amount of suspense involved in whether the leads (Timothy Olyphant playing the sheriff and Radha Mitchell playing his wife and the town doctor) are going to be able to find a way out of this mess.They find themselves in the middle of a nightmare when a government plane crashes and - unknown to the local population - spreads a biological weapon that was on its way to be destroyed and whose intent is to "destabilize" local populations.
Here Timothy Olyphant, in a big-screen stopover on his way between portraying a sheriff in HBO's Deadwood and a sheriff in FX's Justified, is cast against type as  a sheriff.The film wastes no time getting right into the meat of the story, as the opening scene shows a town in flames, littered with wrecked vehicles.
This is confirmed about the time the sheriff does a little detective work to discover that the craziness is probably due to contaminated water flowing downstream from the village's eponymous marsh, and the overhead view gets an ominous new caption: "Initiate containment procedures".From there on, it's the sheriff, his wife, his chief deputy (Joe Anderson as the decidedly non- Barney-Fife-like, competent, reliable Russell Clank), and teenage candy-striper Becca Darling (Danielle Panabaker) against the crazies themselves, vengeful relatives, panicky townspeople, well armed rednecks, and hordes of gas-masked soldiers who themselves aren't quite sure what they've been ordered to do but aren't about to take any lip from civilians, badge or no.Things go to hell pretty realistically, there aren't any unbelievable heroics or faky jumpatchas, and there's a serious effort made to field a plausible scientific explanation for everything.
Meanwhile townspeople rebel , defy soldiers and the sheriff (Timothy Oliphant), his deputy (Joe Anderson), his wife (Radha Mitchell) and her medical assistant (Danielle Panabaker) escape.This is a remake based on the 70s George A Romero film dealing with the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then die after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply .
It was basically a zombie film by another name; instead of the undead you had people infected (in the non 28 Days Later kind of way) with a contamination which basically meant they go nuts (or crazy, basically).If you've seen the other remake of George A Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead (2004)' then you should kind of know the 'look and feel' of the Crazies' remake.
It has some really exciting sequences that would make you hold your breath for a while until you feel some sort of pain in your chest (for not breathing properly for at least 30 minutes!) The acting is superb, the actors and actresses are all likable and pretty / handsome, and their actions are logical, not the stupid kind you see in most other horror movies, which make you think the characters deserve to die because of their stupidity.
in the last couple of years there has been a lot of zombie movies which were not all that great but then i saw this movie it has a story line timothy olyphant does a great job one of my favorite actors its got horror thriller and action its about a town that gets infected by its water supply and once they drink it there infected but don't be fooled and say not another zombie movie its far from it its got everything that a zombie movie should have if your a gore fan this movie is not for you but if you like a thriller this one is for you i gave it a 8 out of 10 just because its one of those movies that you can watch and not get bored.
Olyphant and Mitchell seem to have a chemistry, but the movie is too busy propelling them into danger, and robbing us of much needed dialogue.In the end, "The Crazies" is better fare than much of what passes for horror these days, but falls short as a shining example of its genre.
With constant remakes being thrown at us today (seriously, does Hollywood have any originality left in it?), it is only a matter of time before one of these remakes hits the audience and leaves an impression that even the biggest zombie bite can't take off.The Crazies is about a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh, where a plane crashes into the town's water supply and infects the townspeople, turning them into maniacs hell-bent on killing.
I have not seen the original film by George "Everything Of The Dead" Romero, but I felt keen in watching this movie.
It features believable performances from Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, some really freaky scenes, a brooding atmosphere throughout, and a really great director, and you're strapped in for one hell of a ride.The level of violence in this movie is brutal enough that it's enough to make today's horror fans feel satisfied without the need of too much overblown gore, it's just good ol' fashioned horror movie-making, jump scares and all.
Seriously this film had the most number of jump scares I've seen in any horror movie and it is surprisingly and effectively well-handled and genuinely scary.Director Breck Eisner is set to have a cult following of his own.
These opening moments intrigued me, and made me think I had stumbled upon the rare, thoughtful and character-driven horror film, but the plot speeds right on ahead, and introduces us to the Sheriff's wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell), who is the town doctor.
Of course, Romero's 1973 original is the inspiration for this tongue-in-cheek horror remake, but it scores on so many levels.With efficient and classic genre thrills, the plot slowly evolves into a somewhat satisfying thrill ride of action, blood, and shocks - lots and lots of shocks, which may not actually shock people anymore because they know what's coming.
OK, this is unfortunately the case, and some parts are as predictable as your average horror flick.Like most horror movies, the film relies on the ability to turn from one tense moment to the other, and director Breck Eisner concentrates mainly on the entertainment value, allowing his actors to have some fun.
The plot sees a toxic spill into a small American town's water system turn some of the locals into marauding maniacs.Eisner's movie is that rare old thing these days, that of the horror remake that greatly improves on the original.
Eisner may not be a Craven, or for sure no Romero, but he executes the material with gusto and shows a knack for knowing how to make the material work.The film is structured over three parts - - character formations in the little town of the delightfully small Americana sounding Ogden Marsh, which leads into the infected going doolally-the army attempting to get things under control-and then the fall out as our brave survivors, erm, try to survive and make sense of what is happening.
It's a more than competently made "zombie" movie, though more like an infected-victim case where a toxin is released on a public in a small Iowa town, and the horror ensues when the few people who haven't become infected (either you do or you don't) have to escape the blockade put up by the military.It's as simple as that really, though along the way, as in any decent 'zombie' movie, our characters are just sharply drawn enough to know where they are at in an evolving sense in the story.
One of the creative things Eisner does in his Crazies, as opposed to Romero's film, is to focus entirely on those trying to survive and escape, in this case a Sheriff, his wife, and his deputy, plus another girl.
Remake of the 1973 George Romero shocker where a toxic spill turns a small town's locals into murderous lunatics.Breck Eisner's remake of George Romero's 1973 shocker is one of the few recent horror retoolings that doesn't provoke feelings of dread in that unlike, say, Halloween, the original wasn't much good to begin with.Ogden Marsh is the kind of small town where ghastly things are apt to happen in films like this, in this case a crashed military plane spilling its cargo of toxic lurgy into the local water supply and turning the locals into murderous nut-jobs.
He is helped by a fantastic cast: Timothy Olyphant ('Deadwood'), Radha Mitchell ('Rogue'), Joe Anderson ('Across the Universe'), and Danielle Panabaker ('Friday the 13th'), a decent screenplay and having Romero on board as a producer.The story is much the same as the original, a virus (Trixie) is accidentally unleashed upon the small town of Ogden Marsh, which turns people into crazy murderous psychopaths when infected.
Sheriff Dutten (Olyphant), his wife Judy (Mitchell), deputy Russell Clank (Anderson), and Becca Darling (Panabaker) band together in an effort to get away from the ensuing madness.Overall this is a pretty good film, not perfect of course, the ending is slightly corny and too sequel friendly, and the military are presented in a pretty clichéd way which we have seen too much of recently, it's getting kinda boring now.
Timothy Olyphant acted very well, The Crazies is the second movie of him I've seen I first saw him in Die Hard 4 and he impressed me both times, I really think he is underrated.
David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is the small town sheriff who with his wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell) and Russell Clank, an action oriented Deputy (Joe Anderson) begin dealing with an ever increasing population of zombie-like citizens who began acting erratically, then explode into maniacal madmen.
As Hollywood's keenly running out of ideas, the plundering of comic book characters and updating movies from the past continues to drive up that sense of desperation, and Eisner doesn't contribute much other than to cosmetically update this for the modern times, the original done more than 30 years ago when he's still a toddler.The person who edited the trailer though, had done a great marketing job in setting expectations that this is something of a huge action fest with the promise of jump-scenes designed to scare, and the marketing folks who came up with the tagline "Fear Thy Neighbor" could be watching a different film altogether.
It reminds us of the jitters of man when we come face to face with uncertainty and fear, done especially well when the story starts to focus on the survival bits between town sheriff David (Timothy Olyphant), his doctor wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) and their respective deputies in Russell (Joe Anderson, in a superb support role like his character) and Becca (Danielle Panabaker) respectively.Don't go in thinking that the Crazies here are superfast like zombies and go running around with great speed.
The Crazies is actually a remake of George A Romero's 1973 movie of the same title, which I never got around seeing, but critics are saying that this version is actually better than the original.
There are also several frightening and gory scenes that will please fans of the genre, but for me the key was how the suspense was built from the beginning and kept until the very end with good performances from the cast.The story takes place in a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh where the population is a little over one thousand.
the best acting award has to go to Joe Anderson who plays Russell the sheriffs deputy, he was excellent and i really felt for his character.the story is implausible, but...we need to put that aside and just enjoy the movie for what it is, a very good action horror movie.
Before long, the US Military close in to contain what turns out to be a biological weapon that was initially sent away to be destroyed, only to find that the majority of the town has been infected through the water supply.Falling victim to the army's brutal tactics before being separated from each other, the Sheriff sneaks back into the town to rescue his pregnant wife with the aid of his loyal Deputy, only to find that the military has been overrun by the township, which has gone completely insane as the virus, 'Trixie,' has proved more deadly than the army could have hoped for.What results is a horror road movie set in the middle of nowhere, reminiscent of modern adaptations such as 'Dawn of the Dead' and '30 Days of Night.' The only difference is that you're meant to wonder who is the greatest threat, the victims of the maddening biological weapon or the army and the government the characters ought to be able to trust!?
This is one movie I think deserved a remake and the casting of Radha Mitchell and Timothy Olyphant gave some hope but the choice of director did not.The biggest problem is that we don't get to know the townsfolk before they go crazy, so who cares.
I like zombie/infected movies in general, even the cheesy ones, and of course Romero's ones, including the 1973 The Crazies, which this is a remake of.