The Crazie Spiel: The Crazies (2010) Review

Think, I should start with a listing of the positives to offset the rest of the review. This has me racking my brain. Even something akin to what Ellen DeGeneres said about an "American Idol" contestant's shoes being nice, seems hard. Ok, so maybe the scene where the wife discovers that people who had been separated were also ruthlessly killed to contain the disease, in some way might actually be illustrating that evil might be a necessity in the bigger picture. Maybe also the movie says there is not much fairness in the world. Even if it wasn't the town people's fault, no one can protect them from or compensate them for the destruction. Maybe, but I doubt it. Even a prefunctory nod at these issues could have redeemed the producers to an extent. However, that could have been if they hadn't been expending all their energy trying to resurrrect or replay every cliche ever seen in a disaster/gore/ slasher/ zombie movie. There is the courageous Sheriff trying to save his equally courageous wife, who is also the town doctor, and (completing the loving potrait with a flourish) their unborn child. The hero also has a loyal sidekick, his deputy, who is made to eventually succumb to the disease and martyr himself to save the Sheriff. The events are liberally embellished with images, the berseck saw, the screech of a rake against the floor, mutilated corpses, scarlet eyes, all of which would have evoked violent fear if they had not been borrowed from previous gore fests that we have been over-exposed to. The whole time I was watching, I was hoping for one instance that would not be how I could listlessly predict it to be. But that would take courage and personality. And who ever said zombies had either?

P.S: This is suppossedly a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name. Even just the synopsis of the older movie has more bite and potency than the almost 2 hrs of this one.