Director Breck Eisner. Starring Timothy Olyphant, Danielle Panabaker, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Preston Bailey, Lisa K. Wyatt, Christie Lynn Smith, Larry Cedar, and Brett Wagner. Horror/Thriller, USA, 95 minutes.

Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant doctor wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) battle for survival as their friends and family descend into madness in THE CRAZIES. Something of a rarity in these days of useless reboots, re-imaginings and remakes, director Brett (SAHARA) Eisner’s take on George A Romero’s 1973 cult obscurity is actually a very worthwhile upgrade.

Even horror master Romero admits his fourth feature wasn’t a satisfactorily fully fleshed out treatment of the devastating effect a biochemical disaster has on a small town. He has always said the scale was too big for the micro-budget he had, hence all the political polemic. So what scriptwriters Ray (CASE 39) Wright and Scott (TEXAS CHAINSAW remake) Kosar have done is correct that by putting the main plot of a mysterious toxin in the water supply turning everyone exposed to it into mindless killers on the biggest of canvases. They’ve also added epic scope to the tangent of authorities leaving the uninfected to their certain doom. They’ve layered on sneaky subtext about the American Dream going horribly wrong as the residents of the picture-perfect Ogden Marsh hamlet begin to succumb to uncontrollably violent urges. They’ve escalated the horrific bloodshed into potent allegorical anarchy as the military try to contain the epidemic by closing off access into or out of town via ENEMY OF THE STATE style tactics. And they provide the most shocking of ironic conclusions. Overall it’s an expert reinvention of Romero’s jaundiced world view with Eisner using wide-open spaces to stage the suspenseful action and create superbly creepy effects. Appropriating many iconic images from the original movie (the flaming house, the powerful flamethrower extermination) and some sly hidden references too (the code name Trixie for the virus), Eisner buffs them up to make everything gleam anew. Surprisingly the infamous little old lady knitting needle scene isn’t restaged. But the horrific moments are well-mounted and sustained right from the sports field start: the car wash massacre is the undisputed highlight, the bedroom hostage situation is the scariest, the runaway circular saw heading for Olyphant’s crotch is a leg-crossing hoot. ?

Effective in streamlining Romero’s favourite points about the basic lack of human coordination, cooperation and communication that are bound to doom us all in the end – here underlined by the potential quarantine dangers, and how they could be horribly mishandled - this highly successful remake is frighteningly capped by an atomic shocker finale that gives THE ROAD a run for its money. 

ALAN JONES

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THE CRITIC-AL LIST
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Kick-Ass
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
The Stepfather
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Uninvited
Amusement
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The RIse OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire