#16 The Crazies (the remake)

I guess it was better than some remakes of classic horror. It's at least still a coherent suspenseful movie even though it dumbs down the themes of the original. The horror that governments are capable when few are weighed against the many gets condensed into some satellite zoom-in shots and faceless soldiers herding people around. Part of what made the original so awesome is it followed at least the middle-management of government atrocity around, made them people, instead of faceless beings that are just boogiemen, doing evil because it's something for the protagonists to battle. Liiiiiike the remake does.

It's to the point where I'm not sure how it's a remake instead of just another one of those contagion movies that admittedly, I'll see with little or no encouragement. Why is it "The Crazies" instead of some contagion movie that owes a lot to The Crazies? Ehh, someone had the rights to it.

But it's still plenty scary. I mean, I was yelling at characters to get out of rooms. So yeah, more Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead, less Nick Cannon Day of the Dead.

In the first one, the crazy virus inspired a lot more than just walking around menacingly with weapons while having a crazed look in one's eye. There were also nonsensical people sweeping up thrown in with the charging hordes, and oh yeah...consensual incest. This one it's just an excuse to have the 28 Days Later zombies learn to use guns and bonesaws.

But worth a view. There's some painfully suspenseful scenes. The acting's pretty decent. Let's just put this on the list of one more reason I really need to get around to watching Justified because Timothy Olyphant...worth some more viewing.