In 2004, George A. Romero's zombie classic Dawn of the Dead was remade. Directed by first timer Zack Snyder, expectations were low, yet the film turned out to be more than a pleasant surprise. While not matching the original for social or political comment, the remake was a leaner, meaner beast, full of shocks and 28 Days Later-style tension. Now 6 years on, another of Romero's works is remade, this time his little seen 1973 small town horror, The Crazies.
Considering this film is directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara), and written by Scott Kosar (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror remakes) and Ray Wright (Case 39), it's amazing how good the film turned out to be. What could so easily have been a painfully derivative, brainless action fest, turns out to be an enjoyable suspenseful horror, with some well defined characters, and a nice bit of political subtext.
The Story of The Crazies
Residents from the small town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, start to become infected by a virus that turns them into homicidal maniacs. The army move in to contain the town, but events quickly escalate out of their control. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his wife Dr. Judy Dutton (Radha Mitchell) struggle to survive the onslaught from everyone around them.
A Strong And Faithful Remake
Romero's original The Crazies is a paranoid tale of a town imploding in on itself with the military then messing things up further through fear and bureaucracy. It's an ensemble, the story told from both sides. Today's remake is a streamlined survival tale told from the town folk's perspective. It keeps the basic premise and country setting, and cleverly integrates a number of the original's ideas, including making a main character pregnant, having an infected father try to kill his family, and the paranoia about who will be infected next.
Before all hell breaks loose in the town, the film has a relaxed pace about it. Characters are allowed time to be fleshed out before the mayhem starts. Timothy Olyphant plays the central character of David, a small town sheriff who, like Chief Brody in Jaws, realises something is wrong but is unable to contain the situation before lives are taken. Olyphant, so often cast in sinister roles, ably plays the ordinary man in the extraordinary situation, giving an understated performance that's full of charisma. He and Radha Mitchell make a convincing couple who are easy to empathise with. They both ground events in reality.
The Evolution of the Zombie
The zombie films of the last decade have largely been defined by fast moving zombies. Even a film like 28 Days Later -- where the infected are not technically zombies because they are still alive -- can still be classified in the zombie sub-genre because of all its other components. The Crazies, both old and new, are not zombie films. The infected aren't mindless, they actually think. The virus does turn people into maniacs, yet how they are affected will depend on their personality. It's like the virus takes the characters' darkest thoughts then makes them carry them out. Thus hunters of animals become hunters of people. Characters who hold grudges will go to extremes to exact revenge. This device is handled well throughout as characters are casually introduced in the first act, then later revealed in their infected form to terrorize David and Judy.
Behind the Action Lies An Iraq Subtext
The action and horror scenes are well choreographed and directed. There is more than enough fights, blood and guts to satisfy the gore hounds and action aficionados. Beyond that, though, is an intriguing subtext. Like in Romero's original, the name crazies might not just apply to the infected, but the military too. Masked and anonymous, their heavy handling of the situation leads to devastation.
In a scene that might only exist to appease audience members who might interpret the film to be disrespectful to US troops, a soldier a captured by David and Judy. Unmasked, the soldier is young and scared, traumatised by events. He doesn't want to be there, but he has his orders. It's not difficult to read the film as an allegory of Iraq, and scenes like this add texture to the story, depicting the military as a faceless machine that not only destroys the lives of the people it's meant to protect, but also its own soldiers.
For all The Crazies successes it's not without its problems. Some of the well built tension is dissipated by the relentless use of the last moment save. Too many times a character in danger is rescued just in the nick of time and to such extend it becomes expected. And, as usual in such remakes, a little less action and a little more characterisation wouldn't hurt. Nonetheless the film is comparable to Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, and worthy of Romero's original. It's a better made film, containing more shocks, better acting, a more focussed narrative and an explosive ending. While not an improvement on the original, it's certainly better than most horrors released every year.
Rhys Bendix-Lewis - Rhys attended Aberystwyth University, completing both a Film & Television Studies BA and Scriptwriting (Screen & Radio) MA. During this ...
