THE CRAZIES

THE CRAZIES

George Romero will always be linked to zombies. After all he is the guy who made zombies a viable commodity. No matter who else tries, nobody has been able to do the living dead quite the way Romero has.

But what about people who just go nuts? They aren't dead, just extremely, mentally... bonkers.

"The Crazies" was filmed by George Romero back in 1973, not long after his debut with "Night of the Living Dead". It was, like NOTLD, staged in Pennsylvania and involved an infection. People went nuts and started killing each other. But the film was ragged, at best, and flopped into the forgotten zone.

No one will ever be able to accuse Romero for not knowing his limitations. He does Zombies...not insanity. So you can't blame him from taking a step back, selling the storyline, gaining a partial producer position and watching someone else try their hand at a remake.

Breck Eisner, whose career is short and spotty was called in to helm the project and try to gain some more creds. He moved the scene from Pennsylvania to Iowa and cast Tim Olyphant - who may already be a Zombie - into the lead. What could go wrong?

Well, if you consider how bad the original "The Crazies" was, nothing.

The movie is about a Sheriff Dave Dutton (Olyphant) and his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell - last seen in "Surrgogate) who are basically two people about to get chased by crazy people. What they don't know is the Army has released a neurotoxin/virus that has manifested itself in the town of Ogden Marsh.

Much like "The Happening", the townsfolk go through a brief ritual before going nuts. Unlike "The Happening", they go after each other rather than commit suicide.

The Dutton as in the middle of all the chasing and near killing as they try to figure out what the heck is going on. In fact, Judy proves to be quite agile even in her pregnant state!

Suddenly the US Army comes swooping in to gain control of the situation, which basically means kill everyone in sight.

Now we have a three way fight between the crazy folk, the sane folk and the Army. Stuff like this is never good and typically humorous.

Romero was smart to stand off to the side in this one. If it lucks up and becomes a moderate hit, he'll make out without sacrificing his reputation.

I have never been a fan of remakes. But this version of "The Crazies" had no where to go but up. It borrowed from "30 Days of Night", "Night of the Living Dead" and about three or four dozen other schlock films. It has just enough obsurdity to keep it amusing and enough grossness to sate most fans of the genre. It should do okay for a February release and that is it's limitation. --GEOFFREY BURTON

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