REVIEW: ‘The Crazies’ Disappoints With Cheap Scares
by John P. HanlonThere is a scene in the movie “The Crazies” where a couple of men investigate to see if there was a plane crash in the area. Instead of going for easy thrills (i.e. people popping out of dark places to frighten the characters), the scene builds up drama and then ends with a creepy camera shot. Unfortunately, unlike this particular scene, the movie often relies on quick and easy scares rather than building up tension and intelligent thrills.
“The Crazies” revolves around a small community where a virus takes over the population. One of the first scenes in the movie shows a tranquil baseball game with the sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) in attendance. Out in the distance, a man walks onto the baseball field carrying a gun. A confrontation ensues between the sheriff and this seemingly drunk man and soon thereafter other people in town start acting strange. As more people begin acting out of character, the sheriff investigates what caused this change in behavior and why people are acting like zombies.
For its scares, the movie often relies on “the crazies” popping out of places and scaring people. Wherever the characters go, there always seems to be someone hiding in a bedroom, in a kitchen and even (in a creative sequence) in a car wash. Unfortunately, this is part of the film’s problem. Instead of relying on interesting and original sequences, the plot just moves the characters from one setting to another where zombies appear from nowhere. (One wonders how long crazies stand in one place silently waiting for the lead characters to show up so that they can jump out and surprise them. Do crazies pay board games while they wait for potential victims?)
In addition, there are also major plot holes. John Nolte pointed some of them out his review, but there are others. For example, at one point a couple realizes the person they’re with has been infected. Nonetheless, they decide to keep walking with him knowing that at any moment he could go crazy and kill them. After the duress of being attacked by multiple “crazies” in the past few hours and days, the audience is asked to believe this couple will keep going with a known “crazy.”
Admittedly, there are some solid aspects of the film. There are a number of genuinely creepy scenes, like the one involving the search for the plane. There are also some imaginative moments but not enough to compensate for a disappointing plot and other flaws. There are zombie movies out there that are much better than this tired one.
As compared to the rest, the beginning of “The Crazies” had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the movie quickly squanders that. Some may say that this new film is crazy scary. I would just describe it as disappointing.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
21 Comments
Wherever there are people acting crazy, virus driven or otherwise, you can be sure that somehow it's Bush's fault.
You're right, look at Keith Olberman.
Good call. He's nuttier than a sack full of cats.
Thanks for the cool review. I thought the movie was about the White House. ;0)
I'm a little disappointed. I thought it had some potential even though the premise has been done before.
But what if it turns out they're all going crazy due to rectal cancer?
Then it would be Sean Penn's fault.
Damn, I've seen all the zombie movies and was hoping for a good one since it's about time we got past the slew of mediocre zombie flicks.
I think "The Idiots" will be out in 2012….keep a look out for it!
Crazy?
He's nucking futs!
I think I'll pass, since in my opinion, all zombie movies should have Milla Jovovich… On the plus side for me, a new Resident Evil movie will be out in 2010, with Milla of course.
After watching this movie I came to roughly the same conclusion – the first half is awesome, suspenseful, and quite tense. The second half is a stupid mess of action-movie cliches. It also has about four false endings, and ends up feeling way longer than 101 minutes.
I should also mention that I despise the use of 'ironic' happy music in horror movies, along with the already-tired cliche of playing a Johnny Cash song over your opening credits. I think Zach Snyder started those horrible trends with his awful remake of "Dawn of the Dead", and I will always hate him for it.
"and about as sharp as a sack full of wet mice."
~ Foghorn Leghorn
Do we blame Bush for Sean Penn too? Or are we supposed to blame him on Sarah Palin now? I've lost track on who the official scapegoat of the month is.
Sweet!
If you like zombie flicks check out "Dead Snow." You can instant watch it on netflix. I deplore zombie films. Not because of the scary scenes but I simply hate seeing people lose their humanity. Perhaps it is my conservative tendency that cause me such angst. Look out there's Bill Marhar!
[...] the rest here: REVIEW: ‘The Crazies’ Disappoints With Cheap Scares This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
How about this? This is one person's opinion of a movie. Why not go and find out for yourself what you think? My wife and I watched this a few days ago and we enjoyed it a lot. I was a little wary because of all of the reports about it being anti-military, but to me they were portrayed doing a dirty job that had to be done. And believe me, I am hyper-sensitive to anything that denigrates our troops. It did have it's moments, though. For me, I hate it when people just do stupid stuff that makes no sense in the context of what they've been through and constantly put themselves into dangerous situations.
An entertaining movie. Good afternoon time-killer.
You're complaining about "cheap scares"? Guess what? Every horror movie has cheap scares! The only scares you can get in a movie are cheap scares! If you want a real scare, leave your house and do something dangerous.
Cheap scares get a bad rap. They're what makes horror movies fun.
Oh yeah … that red dress she wore in the first Resident Evil was made for her and her for it.
Agreed. I went and saw it last weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I generally like zombie movies anyway and I'd say this is pretty much in the grand tradition. Plus despite early warnings to the contrary, I think the military came off on the whole fairly positively but with some stark, rough tasks that are, again, in the grand tradition of zombie / apocalypse movies … as you say, doing a dirty job that has to be done.
I'm really pretty much with Rob and others. I'm all in favor of cheap scares in zombie movies. In fact, I think they work especially well in zombie movies compared to other horror movies. Because quivive is right, what really makes a zombie movie especially horrifying is that dehumanization that turns Aunt Rose into gibbering horror. Similar to the special horror of good ol' vampire movies which I also like. But zombie movies add "dumb and jerky" to "undead" in a way that is very, very scary at a very very deep level I think. Nothing at all cheap about that. But then the "cheap scares" are introduced partly to give us some relief from the fundamental existential horror of the Human Zombie. As for The Crazies … I think it's a very decent zombie flick, not the best, but very much in the grand tradition. And worth a watch if you like those scary ol' zombies …
You must be logged in to post a comment.