The Crazies Review

“Going nuts hasn’t been this fun since…well it is just a movie.  That was an overstatement. Sorry”

Setting up the mood in a genre movie is perhaps the most important thing a film-maker can do.  We know the dialogue may be crap. We know the story may be fantastical and ask us, the audience, to appreciate the stretch we have to make to buy in.  But if we can identify with some characters and some situations, it’s really enough to get us by.  In this latest installment of zombie-ish horror, The Crazies succeeds and then some.

The Crazies, a remake of a George Romero film, does nothing different with the genre.  It stays pretty close to the chest and stays within itself.  It doesn’t attempt to make empty messages or have the characters make hollow or transparent decisions.  Much like another sci-fi flick in Avatar, it’s really about buying in and director Breck Eisner does this to a pretty good degree.  This is mostly done in a pseudo documentary style of film-making which is intended to make the audience feel like it’s looking over the shoulder and in the thick of it with the heroes.

And the heroes are pretty good…when they’re not delivering dialogue.  All in all, the script of the movie had a solid story in tact and had to dress up some of the heavier dialogue scenes with pure cheese; where characters are dictating their actions as a means of their thoughts.  It’s clear that director Breck Eisner doesn’t really trust his audience enough to let us develop our own reactions and feelings toward the material.  But I didn’t find this a detraction.  I found the ride enjoyable and worth taking.  There are crappy scenes, crappy lines but all in all not enough to drag a final product down.

It’s clear Eisner isn’t comfortable really undressing this material.  He’ll let us see a man burn his family alive, but he won’t let us see a son seperated from his mother NOT get returned to her merely minutes later.  He’s willing to go just far enough to remind you that you’re watching a horror film, but not enough to really imagine the real horror.  But it does go further than other fare.  It is a step in the right direction.  If you’re looking for a movie that will keep the suspense and keep you in the story, The Crazies is in theaters now.  This movie get’s a solid 7 + out of 10 Bones for being just a by the numbers, entertaining, creepy movie.

RATING: PLUS!