Blu-ray Review: The Crazies (2010)

As renowned as his Dead series is - mainly 1968's Night of the Living Dead and 1978's follow-up Dawn of the Dead - George A. Romero's other work tends to be forgotten. The Crazies was one of his "lesser" efforts, a 1973 horror/thriller that replaces zombies with people infected with a virus that turns them into violent, insane killers (admittedly, the difference is therefore relatively cosmetic). It's undoubtedly a suitable sort of film to remake - one with a premise that has great potential, but not a film so classic or iconic that any attempt at a do-over would seem pointless or futile. The Hollywood remake factory was bound to turn its gaze to it at some point, given the exhaustingly long list of other horror staples that have been remade in the last decade or so, but what may not have been expected is that the remake is pretty damn good.

In the same vein as Romero's other films of the time, the original was built around a clear political message, infused with late-Vietnam-era paranoia and anti-government feeling in the US. Breck Eisner's (Sahara) remake largely ditches the subtext, despite its makers' insistence of contemporary relevance to topics such as the feared H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, but what it loses in substance it makes up for in efficient and suspenseful storytelling. It depicts a typical small town in rural Iowa experiencing an outbreak of, well, craziness amongst the populace, causing long term neighbours and even family members to start murdering each other. Before long the military origins of the outbreak become apparent. Naturally, a handful of residents avoid infection, led by Timothy Oliphant's Sheriff, and attempt to escape the area while eluding the attention of both the crazies and the government troops.

Originality is not a strong suit, then, but Eisner has certainly learnt the tricks of the trade, putting together some brilliantly staged sequences of controlled suspense. The director wastes no time in kicking off proceedings - the baseball game at which the first "crazy" appears occurs within about five minutes - and there's a real sense of uneasiness that pervades particularly the early stages of the film. Oliphant, updating his Deadwood lawman persona to the present day, is certainly a watchable lead, and Radha Mitchell - permanently stuck in the horror genre now, it seems - is again excellent as his wife. A couple of the plot developments are rather signposted (yes, a member of the core group turns out to be infected), but the film doesn't take its characters in entirely predictable directions, and there's commendably no reluctance in picking off its cast.

The Crazies therefore continues the strong track record of Romero remakes - Night... and Dawn of the Dead have both been redone successfully - and, ironically, is probably better than anything Romero has made lately, if the reviews of Diary... and Survival of the Dead are anything to go by.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: B / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Momentum

Presentation
The transfer is pretty typical of recent HD releases, with few flaws to point out. It can't quite boast top-drawer detail and clarity, but it still offers an entirely satisfying image. One thing worth mentioning is that it comes across quite dark overall, even in daylight scenes. The soundtrack, meanwhile, is exemplary - I have rarely heard surround effects used as well as this in the sake of generating unease and dread, and the low end is nicely robust. The packaging only lists standard Dolby 5.1 (640kbps), but the disc offers full uncompressed PCM as well for those who can accommodate it.

Extras
You get a fairly standard, but thorough enough, selection here. Eisner gives a solo commentary, and there are numerous featurettes looking at the Romero influence, the makeup, the story, and so on. They hover around 10 minutes each. There are also four motion comic stories included which are quite lengthy and will probably only appeal to major fans.



Summary
Slick, efficient, and occasionally ruthless, The Crazies won't linger in the mind but does exactly what it says on the tin - very effectively.