[6]

A farming town falls victim to an airborne toxin that turns everyone into homicidal maniacs in this remake of George Romero’s 1973 original. The film is directed by Breck Eisner (son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner), and while it drags in many places and brings little originality to the ‘outbreak’ or ‘zombie’ subgenres, it’s nonetheless a competent little horror flick. My main gripe is that The Crazies never gets crazy enough — there’s not much gore, not much horror, and not much humor. It’s ultimately a run-of-the-mill thriller. Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell do decent jobs in their stock roles (Olyphant reminds me a lot of Bill Paxton or Billy Bob Thornton here). Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) is easily the most engaging member of the cast, playing a rogue deputy who may or may not be succumbing to the plague.