Writer: Low Yuen Yim

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Watch this if you liked: “30 Days Of Night”, “Day Of The Dead”, “Dawn Of The Dead”

What was running through Breck Eisner's mind while filming a remake of George A. Romero's 1973 "The Crazies"? He could be thinking, let us not use A-list actors so viewers will focus on the story. Use a small farming town so we can concentrate on killing and infecting people. And lastly, make viewers leave the cinema thinking that there is more to the movie then it seems.

Before we start making assumptions that 'the crazies' are zombie look-alikes, the fact of the matter is - they are not. Set in a farming community, these townspeople got infected through a plane crash by the government containing a biological weapon which leaked into their water supply. They are not turned into mindless, infected beings looking like corpses, but instead develop the urge to kill humans mercilessly.

The hero of the movie is a small town sheriff, David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) who manages to stay rational whilst leading his wife, Dr. Judy Dutton (Radha Mitchell) to safety. The couple manages to display a compassionate performance that is rarely seen in horror movies. Together with Becca (Danielle Panabaker) and deputy sheriff, Russell (Joe Anderson), they were the only four survivors in the town.

The horror scenes vary as if Eisner was trying something new for the viewers. The first scene shows sheriff David gunning down one of the townsfolk who interrupts a baseball match with a gun, giving us a taste of more to come. Suspense here is pivotal and was at its height when Judy and Becca were trapped with the infected victims. The town's headmaster slowly walked in dragging a pitchfork across the floor and choosing his victim. Who knew that farming equipment could be so dangerous? If you were expecting bloody scenes, this might be a bit of a letdown as scenes of people brutally killed were only shown briefly.

Now a question that gets you thinking about this entire movie, did the plane carrying the biological weapon intentionally crashed into the town as an experiment? At the end of the movie, we are given the hint that the infection might not be contained as expected and there might be a sequel featuring some new 'crazies'.

Cinema Online, 28 June 2010