PeterGriffin1Fan sent in some thoughts after a test screening of THE CRAZIES - director Breck Eisner's remake of this 1973 George Romero film:
Eisner's remake isn't scheduled to hit theaters until early next year. So, as with all screening reports of this type, please keep in mind that significant changes may be made to this movie before we get a look at a final product.
Here's PeterGriffin1Fan...
I like to consider myself a fan of all types of genres when it comes to movies. But when it comes to a favorite, I always seem to respond best to horror films. I love the thrill of watching a good horror film and being scared shitless during certain scenes. I love simple and basic battle between good and evil, whatever forms those may take. And the combination of music, cinematography, editing, and makeup can make even the most avid filmgoers cringe and cover their eyes.
However, there are a lot of these genre films that miss the mark. Recently, there has been a slew of remakes, rehashes, reimaginations, and very few of them have brought justice to the originals. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can add another one to that list.
There are going to be some spoilers in this review but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum. But if you’ve seen the original, you’re not going to be that surprised. I was invited to one of the first screenings of Breck Eisner’s remake of George Romero’s THE CRAZIES starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. While I’m familiar with the original, I haven’t seen it in about 10 years. However, even without seeing the original there’s so many things wrong with this film I don’t know where to start…
The movie revolves around a small town in Iowa that one day, all of a sudden, the people start acting crazily…hence THE CRAZIES. Olyphant plays the town sheriff and Mitchell plays his wife, the town doctor. Of course, all hell breaks loose but these people don’t become flesh eating zombies, they become almost hypnotized into torturing and killing anybody who gets in their way. While trying to leave the town, the survivors realize what’s causing the townspeople to act this way and it’s a race to avoid not only the crazies, but possibly something or someone even bigger.
First off and maybe the most frustrating thing is the movie starts out very clichéd with the ending first. The problem when doing this with a horror film or any other film for that matter, it gives too F’N much away! Like who survives and who doesn’t. Now, am I going to be surprised at all when these characters are in suspenseful situations? Nope, because the whole audience knows they’ll be fine. That, to me, takes a lot of the suspense and uncertainty out of a horror film.
The acting of both Olyphant and Mitchell are pretty sub-par. While I like both actors, I think they do much better when they’re in supporting roles. Olyphant can’t carry a movie (IE Hitman) but seems to do his best work when he’s not the center of attention (IE Damages on FX, The Girl Next Door, and Go). However, one bright spot is Olyphant’s deputy played by Joe Anderson. He’s got a pretty significant role and really steals a lot of the scenes that he’s in.
The script is pretty typical of a mainstream horror film nowadays… clichéd, flawed, and somewhat comical at times. Seriously, how many times in these movies do people get killed off when they’re alone and yet the group of survivors continues to split up and look for supplies by themselves? Ever heard of a buddy system? I’d never heard of Scott Kosar before but when I looked him up, the choice of scriptwriter made perfect sense. Before The Crazies, he had penned the remakes of The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He should really stick to original work because I also noticed he wrote The Machinist, which was a very well-written film but I guess whatever pays the bills.
Breck Eisner, the director of this film, does show some promise as a horror director. I didn’t enjoy Sahara very much but he may have a calling within the horror genre. He has an eye for suspense which is evident in the first third of the movie. After the first third, instead of keeping the audience guessing on when something bad will happen, he tends to just make you jump as many times as he can. It looks like he’ll be in the director’s chair for the remake of The Creature From The Black Lagoon so I’m interested to see what he does with that.
The music wasn’t fully finished (I believe I heard the Dark Knight theme near the end of the film but I could be wrong) and some coloring was off but other than that, it looked to be like a pretty solid cut of the film. One thing I did enjoy was the pacing of the film. Right from the get-go, the movie is running at a pretty brisk and suspenseful pace. While there was some gore in the film, I would have liked a little more, especially near the end. Some of the most enjoyable horror films are the ones that start off fairly tame and then slowly build towards a crescendo with more and more ridiculous death scenes. There are a couple scenes, specifically in the Olyphant’s and Mitchell’s home and at the city morgue, but ultimately, the finale is pretty lame and unfulfilling.
And finally, when filling out the survey, I was pretty brutal in my critique. But they asked what they thought about the ending and once again, I let them have it asking “You mean the beginning?” However, the movie doesn’t start out right at the end as there’s another few minutes afterwards which had me scratching my head and almost even more adamant. It’s open-ended but so ridiculously flawed and stupid that I wanted to yell at the screen. And if that wasn’t enough, during the rolling of the credits, they have the typical newscast that is shown to cover-up the whole incident which didn’t add anything.
Overall, the movie is a huge disappointment as I was pretty excited to see this remake done right. While there were a couple sparkling moments, the movie falls pretty flat and is just another Hollywood remake that doesn’t do the original justice. And if Breck Eisner or anyone over at Overture Films reads this or my survey, PLEASE FOR GOD’S SAKE…CHANGE THE ENDING (or the beginning) OF THIS FILM! If you use this, call me PeterGriffin1Fan.
