Movie Review: THE CRAZIES
Throughout the Winter Olympics, I'd seen the trailers for this movie and just assumed "No way, not seeing it." Then I caught "At The Movies" this past Saturday and found out that one of my favorite actors, Timothy Oliphant, starred in it; it is based on a 1973 George Romero movie; the two reviewing critics both liked it.
I have a love/hate thing about horror movies. I love too few and hate too many of them, mostly because too many horror films are just plain stupid. Usually the plot, assuming there is one, is wildly contrived and implausible and just an excuse for gore-porn. Excessive gore distances me from movies and I wind up bored and annoyed.
To be honest, THE CRAZIES has a lot of flaws, including too many "That was really stupid" moments, such as "You stay here alone and I'll somewhere else and be alone." What made it worse is that the characters repeatedly made stupid mistakes, such as failing to search places where they took shelter. The film also repeated the saved-by-a-bullet moment too often. So yes, those moments took me out of the film several times, but there was enough going on that was right to keep me willing to dive right back in.
The movie opens in a small town in Iowa, at a school baseball game. The Sheriff and his Deputy are watching when suddenly a man carrying a shotgun shambles onto the field, a distinct homage to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The sheriff is forced to shoot the man, a local townsman who used to be the town drunk. The sheriff's wife, who is the local doctor, treats another man who later sets his house (with wife and child inside) on fire. Within 24 hours, the Sheriff puts together a pattern, but finds the phones and disconnected and the internet blocked.
SPOILERS BELOW
Here's where the story steps away from the usual horror pattern and almost (but not quite) spins into a political thriller. Not only is the town threatened by an insanity producing fast acting virus that has contaminated their drinking water, but the government is trying to contain the situation with an armed quarantine of the town and surrounding farms.
The single most horrifying element of this film is the plausibility of how suddenly life could change, how an entire town could be rounded up, placed on buses...eliminated before the rest of the country might even notice. When the characters aren't dodging crazies, they are hiding from soldiers in hazard gear. Sure, there's a clear agenda on the part of the filmmakers but it worked for me.
I wish the virus had been thought out a bit more and the Crazies made a bit more believable. They seemed to be inconsistent in actions and thought process, but not in a crazy way. They clearly acted however the director thought would be most effective in a given scene. So they retained memories, acted intelligently, organized to some degree, but wanted to kill, kill, kill. However, they seemed to only kill the non-crazies and I wondered why that would be, why they didn't turn on one another.
If you like zombie-horror movies, I think this one falls into that category, if not a true zombie flick. It has good production values, lots of moody photography, tons of "gotcha!" moments, and talented actors. Worth watching but there is a lot that needs forgiving at the same time.
I have a love/hate thing about horror movies. I love too few and hate too many of them, mostly because too many horror films are just plain stupid. Usually the plot, assuming there is one, is wildly contrived and implausible and just an excuse for gore-porn. Excessive gore distances me from movies and I wind up bored and annoyed.
To be honest, THE CRAZIES has a lot of flaws, including too many "That was really stupid" moments, such as "You stay here alone and I'll somewhere else and be alone." What made it worse is that the characters repeatedly made stupid mistakes, such as failing to search places where they took shelter. The film also repeated the saved-by-a-bullet moment too often. So yes, those moments took me out of the film several times, but there was enough going on that was right to keep me willing to dive right back in.
The movie opens in a small town in Iowa, at a school baseball game. The Sheriff and his Deputy are watching when suddenly a man carrying a shotgun shambles onto the field, a distinct homage to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The sheriff is forced to shoot the man, a local townsman who used to be the town drunk. The sheriff's wife, who is the local doctor, treats another man who later sets his house (with wife and child inside) on fire. Within 24 hours, the Sheriff puts together a pattern, but finds the phones and disconnected and the internet blocked.
SPOILERS BELOW
Here's where the story steps away from the usual horror pattern and almost (but not quite) spins into a political thriller. Not only is the town threatened by an insanity producing fast acting virus that has contaminated their drinking water, but the government is trying to contain the situation with an armed quarantine of the town and surrounding farms.
The single most horrifying element of this film is the plausibility of how suddenly life could change, how an entire town could be rounded up, placed on buses...eliminated before the rest of the country might even notice. When the characters aren't dodging crazies, they are hiding from soldiers in hazard gear. Sure, there's a clear agenda on the part of the filmmakers but it worked for me.
I wish the virus had been thought out a bit more and the Crazies made a bit more believable. They seemed to be inconsistent in actions and thought process, but not in a crazy way. They clearly acted however the director thought would be most effective in a given scene. So they retained memories, acted intelligently, organized to some degree, but wanted to kill, kill, kill. However, they seemed to only kill the non-crazies and I wondered why that would be, why they didn't turn on one another.
If you like zombie-horror movies, I think this one falls into that category, if not a true zombie flick. It has good production values, lots of moody photography, tons of "gotcha!" moments, and talented actors. Worth watching but there is a lot that needs forgiving at the same time.