What a great title for a horror movie: The Crazies. There is so much you could do with a title like that, but this was a remake so some people already knew what to expect. Never having seen the original, this movie was new to me, and I thought I was just crazy enough to see it. So do you have to be crazy to see this movie?
The movie started out on what was probably an ordinary day in the small town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa. People of the town were at a high school baseball game cheering for their team. No one knew that the town was about to change forever as a local resident walked onto the outfield with a shotgun. He was the first person that officially went crazy, and was the first of many crazy people David Dutton, the sheriff, had to confront as he tried to lead his wife, her friend Becca, and the deputy sheriff out of town.
The movie didn’t waste too much time getting right into things. After kicking things off at the baseball field, things got a little more crazy as another resident decided to lock his wife and child in a closet, and then burned the house down. David arrested him, and took him back to the police station to be locked up. It was funny how a guy that couldn’t go anywhere, or do anything, turned out to be one of the scarier characters, as he became crazier, and crazier locked up for the rest of the movie. While the movie got off to a fast start, it lost a little steam towards the end of the movie. They took too much time setting up the final scene of the movie. It was hard to get excited for the final scene after that. Maybe I just wasn’t thrilled about the ending, even though it ended with a little twist.
I have two different thoughts about some of the scenes in this movie. The first, as usual, was that there were a few scenes I particularly liked. One of those scenes was when David was taken to the floor by this ladies’ son, and had a knife go right through his hand… ouch! Just when it looked like it was the end for him, he pulled his hand off the floor with the knife still in it, and stabbed the lady… double ouch! It was a nice touch turning his pain into her death.
Another scene that was well done was the car wash scene. They did a good job of building up the tension. As soon as the car wash started, the car was locked down to the track. Then, the soap covered the car leaving barely enough room to see out of the window. Everything seemed fine to them until Becca noticed one of the crazies standing in the rear of the car wash, which resulted in them all freaking out. Of course, a struggle with some of the crazies ensued, where Becca ended up with a cable wrapped around her neck and pulled out the back window of the car. Everyone jumped out and tried to save her, as the car rolled out of the car wash. Just as you thought the tension was over, there was one more surprise that I will leave for you to see.
However, my favorite scene in the movie was when a group of people were strapped down to these tables. Some of the people strapped down had gone crazy, but not David’s wife or her friend Becca. They struggled but could not free themselves when they heard this screeching sound getting closer and closer to them. They quickly became silent when one of the crazies walked in dragging a pitchfork. He slowly walked over to the first person he heard making noise, and stabbed them with the pitchfork. I know some people complained that they chose to show the death from under the table, but it didn’t bother me. Yea, it might have been more interesting to see it from above, but what can you do. Maybe they could have done one from below, and another from above. If you just put yourself in that position, I think the scene turns out to be pretty scary.
The second thought I had about some of the scenes in this movie was that they reminded me of scenes from other movies. Take the scene where all of the crazies were imprisoned, and eventually broke out. Some were shot, but most seemed to get away when all hell broke loose. This scene reminded of 28 Weeks Later when the infection broke out, and all hell broke loose. How about the scene where David’s wife was standing at the diner drinking a glass of water? Any guess what movie I am thinking about? With the guy standing in the background with no noise, and nothing else happening for a couple seconds before he disappears. It reminded me of The Strangers when the guy was standing silently in the background while the lady was in the kitchen. Then, there was the scene with the electric saw. It is a little bit of a stretch, but for some reason it reminded me of the scene in The Stepfather when the saw was hanging over the girl’s face. Of course, I thought they messed up that scene, but you can read more about that complaint in my review of The Stepfather. And the reason why everyone went crazy in the first place wasn’t as crazy as the crazies were (about as crazy as this sentence?). We have seen that story line before. So the question here is: do these things take any originality away from the movie, even though it is a remake?
It kind of bothered me that David’s wife’s character had to be pregnant. She really didn’t act as if she was pregnant during the movie, with all of the running around and fighting off the crazies. I didn’t see much point in her pregnancy except, maybe to give them a reason to go back to the house later in the movie. It was interesting how most of the crazies that David had to face off with throughout the movie were people he had conflicts with earlier on. You thought that his issues with these people were nothing, but it gave them reason to go after him once they turned crazy.
The movie kind of boiled down to four people trying to escape from a town that was becoming crazier by the moment. It started off quickly, but didn’t end with the finish I was looking for. There were several good scenes in the movie that provided plenty of tension, and suspense. However, some of those scenes were similar to scenes of other movies. I don’t think you had to be crazy to see this movie, but maybe I am a little crazy because I give this movie 3 pools of blood.
HorrO
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