The first great B-movie of the new year. The Crazies is a gory joyride that wholly satisfies nearly every part of me that was craving a good time.
I loved George A. Romero’s 1973 anti-government horror classic, but it never really had enough time to ever come across as scary. However with director Breck Eisner’s reboot he makes that his top priority. Using the low funds I’m sure he had to work with, Eisner uses his camera to capture every which way to make this the cheesy fun I was hoping for.
The 2010 Crazies is basically about the same thing as Romero’s was: a manifested government creates a lethal toxin that accidentally spreads like wildfire in an Iowa town. Of course the original took place in Pennsylvania, but I won’t hold that against it. If you pick apart a movie like this you’re bound to find numerous reasons not to love it.
Timothy Olyphant seems to be my acting god when I’m looking for a guilty pleasure movie. He starred in another garbage thriller last summer that I enjoyed, A Perfect Getaway. I won’t mention a word about his performance in this movie because to be honest I don’t really care. I mean, Danielle Panabaker is in a movie entitled “The Crazies”. You think I’m going to start an Oscar campaign for any of the people in this?
All in all The Crazies does everything I wanted it to do. It doesn’t alter the original too badly, it never for a second takes itself too seriously, and above all it just has fun. From a shear entertainment standpoint, The Crazies delivers. And isn’t that what you go to the movie for, to be entertained?

3.5 out of five stars.

Watch my full review of The Crazies here!