The Crazies |  | Actors: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell
Studio: Overture Films/Anchor Bay Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $4.66
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New (47) Used (51) from $4.66
Seller: goHastings
Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 694
Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: 013132139593
UPC: 013132139593
EAN: 0013132139593
ASIN: B0021L8UXA
Theatrical Release Date: September 25, 2009
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
ABOUT THE INHABITANTS OF A SMALL IOWA TOWN SUDDENLY PLAGUED BY INSANITY AND THEN DEATH AFTER A MYSTERIOUS TOXIN CONTAMINATES THEIR WATER SUPPLY.
Amazon.com
This 2010 remake of a somewhat obscure 1973 George Romero picture injects a mysterious virus into the water supply of a small Iowa town, and the consequences are… well, you didn't expect the consequences to be positive, did you? The movie is called The Crazies, after all. So when local folk begin acting a mite peculiar, it just means they've gone to the well too often--literally. Borrowing the structure of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the remake gets off to a clumsy start, but as the noninfected rally around the sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his doctor wife (Radha Mitchell), the action becomes streamlined and reasonably inventive. Director Breck Eisner has a particular knack for finding ingenious ways of killing people (a knife through the hand becomes a useful tool for the sheriff in one turn-the-tables moment), and he's been wise enough to hire respectable actors for the top-lined duties; along with Olyphant and Mitchell, there's also Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) as a loyal, amped-up deputy. If the movie misses the tart social-context stuff that Romero does so well, it at least fills the bill when it comes to the chase-and-escape business of a contemporary horror picture. The spate of such 21st-century remakes of 1970s horror pictures misses the raw, raggedy unease of those low-budget projects, but if you're going to make a slick new update, The Crazies is the way to do it. --Robert Horton
Stills from The Crazies (Click for larger image)
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 127
 The Crazies is a very scary thrillride re-make April 12, 2010
Haunted Flower (Indianapolis)
38 out of 46 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RBN4GA89SA41Z Gina from Haunted Flower reviews "The Crazies" directed by Breck Eisner and produced by George A. Romero based on his 1973 version. It stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, and Joe Anderson. A contagious mental illness takes over the inhabitants of a small town in Iowa.
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Superior survival horror March 2, 2010
Michael J. Tresca (Fairfield, CT USA)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
I knew nothing about The Crazies going into the theater. I didn't know it was originally produced by the father of the zombie genre, George Romero. And I didn't expect to see a movie about a sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife (Radha Mitchell) with my own wife six months pregnant. Please note: this review contains spoilers.
The movie starts out slowly. In these stressful times, we're all too familiar with scenes of sudden gun violence in an idyllic setting. After sheriff Dutton is forced to gun down a former town drunk on a little league field, the town of Ogden Marsh begins to unravel. Everybody knows everybody else in this small town and a murder leaves emotional aftershocks that traumatize its citizens. This includes Dutton's wife, who happens to be the town doctor.
The tension slowly notches up from there. These early moments are critical in establishing The Crazies as a superior horror film. The petty rivalries, the secret and not-so-secret grudges, the sadistic bullies - all of the townsfolk's deepest impulses are let loose through the TRIXIE virus, a military bioweapon that has accidentally (?) contaminated the town.
Unlike so many other horror movies, Dutton and his deputy Clank (Joe Anderson) are precisely the people who should be dealing with an outbreak. The problem is that they are little fish in a very big pond. The movie quickly morphs from a slasher flick to survival horror when the military gets called in, loses control, and pulls out.
What makes The Crazies so refreshing is that it plays on horror tropes, using it to narrative advantage. We find out that the soldiers who are executing townsfolk aren't faceless, that the TRIXIE virus may or may not be transmitted through the water supply, and that taking one's temperature isn't a guaranteed means of identifying who's infected. The Crazies makes no promises but always delivers.
This ambiguity may frustrate some people who expect everything to be wrapped in a neat bow, but director Breck Eisner knows that there is horror in uncertainty. It's precisely this lack of clarity that makes the movie so good - the villains aren't unilaterally evil, the victims aren't always helpless, and the solutions aren't always moral. The Crazies wallows in the gray area of harsh decisions, treating an outbreak with all the ethical gravity of a war.
Let there be no doubt, this is as much a war movie as it is a horror movie. The real crazies, Eisner seems to say, is anyone who would trust authority. These days, that may not be such bad advice.
P.S. Stay through the credits!
Call Me Crazy I Like It August 30, 2010
Karl E. Weaver (California, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Make no mistake-"The Crazies" is a horror film. You may have read that it's really a modern remake of an old 1973 George Romero horror film by the same name. I haven't seen Romero's original, but this film is very well-done.
The biggest name in this film is Timothy Olyphant in the lead role as sheriff of small town Ogden Marsh, Iowa (population 1260). The rest of the cast and the director, Breck Eisner, are not quite as well-known, but they all do a very competent job. The acting and the directing are so well-coordinated that you never have the feeling the film is trying to "showcase" a particular actor, nor that the actors are ever competing with each other for attention. That, along with the pace of this film, which to me seemed just perfect (transitioning very gradually from casual to almost frenetic as things fall more & more apart) really allows the viewer to suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in the story. And there is plenty of story. There's plenty of scares too, but this film never loses sight of telling a story, focusing on a small group of people trying desperately to escape this town alive. They have not only the "crazies" to contend with but also the military (in classic Romero style, the government is no more trustworthy than the disease). The violence is just sufficient to maintain a real sense of suspense, without over-the-top or gratuitous gore.
The film is almost entirely first-person viewpoint, and along with the characters we learn that something is terribly wrong, people are going berserk and senselessly attacking others; that it apparently came from the cargo on a military plane that crashed in the marsh which supplies the town water; that it might have become airborn; that the military is rounding up and quarantining everyone; and finally, that nobody is going to be allowed to get out...
There are also plenty of head-fakes in which you don't know whether something awful is about to happen or not, but these too are done in a reasonably sophisticated way, not overly calling attention to themselves but just keeping you constantly on-edge and not knowing just what's coming next.
The blu-ray looks great and the musical score is good, particularly at the ending credits. There are a moderate number of "bonus features"; three short (10 minute) featurettes being the most interesting to me. This was really filmed in Iowa, as well as in rural Georgia (enabling filming to avoid the cold Iowa winters and the hot Georgia summers). The whole story takes place over just a couple of days. I'm doubting there will be a sequel although the final sequence left open the possibility. This is a very nicely-done horror film with good characterization and a somewhat understated style. It should appeal not just to horror film devotees but to a somewhat wider audience.
Beyond Crazy!!! Great thrill-ride! March 14, 2010
Jason (Backwater, Alabama)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Director Breck Eisner has taken the concept of George A. Romero's original movie, and produced a contemporary version of The Crazies that feels like the worst parts of Outbreak and 28 Days Later combined. Better in every single way, terrifying at every turn, this is a nail-biter, an updated horror film that does not disappoint.
When a quiet, elder gentleman interrupts a high school baseball game by walking into centerfield toting a shotgun, the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa is irrevocably changed. With residents suddenly plagued by a mysterious sickness that turns them into psychopaths, the military springs into action, quarantining the entire town and attempting to stifle the outbreak by removing and immobilizing the sick. Meanwhile, sheriff David Dutton (Olyphant), his wife (Mitchell), the town deputy, and one other fight for survival
Despite the fact that nothing is terribly original, the movie avoids being too predictable. Scares jump off the screen from beginning to end, and the tone of the movie is believable enough to be ominous throughout. Some of the scenarios in which the sick bound out after our heroes are completely unexpected. The special effects are creative enough to add well to the thrust of the film without being Michael Bay level ostentatious. The makeup and gore are top-notch as well, with blood, brain, and viscera splattering multiple times, accompanied by my approving applause.
Horror fans will love this movie, and I view it as redemption for an underwhelming predecessor. I loved it from setup to explosive ending. Be on the lookout for the pitchfork scene! YIKES!
Jason Elin
Brilliant remake! August 1, 2010
John Lindsey (Socorro, New Mexico USA.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the small town of Ogden Marsh in a nearby swamp, there was an airplane that crash lands in it contaminating the town's water supply with chemicals. The people who drink from the water turn into homicidal maniacs who look like zombies as it seems some government contamination unites are blocking the town, Sheriff Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) with pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) including Deputy Russell (Joe Anderson) and Becca (Danielle Panabaker) are escaping the town to get to the major city for a new home unless they can get out alive.
Terrifying and brilliant remake of the obscure George Romero cult fave, this Sci-fi horror thriller is better than one of Romero's weaker efforts (Dawn of the Dead with Night and Day were better including martin). This is a fantastic reimagining that will rank with "The Thing", "The Fly", "Dawn of the Dead", "The Blob", "King Kong" etc in terms of great genre remakes. The acting is just superb and the action is plentiful, George A. Romero executive produced this one here which makes it an A on my list.
This Blu-Ray gives the viewer that theatrical experience through flawless picture and sound that skyrockets to the roof. The extras are terrific such as audio commentary, featurettes, storyboards, 2 motion comics, photo gallery and teasers to trailers.
A must have for Sci-fi/horror fanatics.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 127
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