Crazy remake

Remakes seem to be an ongoing trend in Hollywood and it seems nowadays it's one a week at least. Sure there has been remakes throughout the times, but not nearly as much as now. This time George A. Romero's The Crazies (1973) got remade.



The Crazies (2010)

The idea is the same as in the original, but the somewhat dull slow storytelling has been replaced with a turbocharged violent roller coaster ride as seems to be the modern standard. This is not at all a bad thing as the original was actually quite boring at times. This was actually quite a good movie and a surprisingly good remake, even though it still has some flaws. The horror is mostly the basic monster jumps around the corner cheap scares, but there are a few small scenes with some proper tension as well. Surprisingly it's quite an adult movie that doesn't go for most of the childish solutions most of the modern horror movies tend to go. I mean there's nothing special in it but yet you never get the feeling that this is just too stupid. The cast is ok, except for Timothy Olyphant. I really don't know why he's being cast as anything else than the asshole evil characters he can portray quite well, as a hero sherif of a small town he certainly is not. Even though the lead character is quite unbelievable, this movie was a pleasantly positive surprise.
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The Crazies (1973)

Romero's career was going down hill quite fast after Night of the Living Dead (1968) and this movie was kind of a desperate attempt to get it going again. Made with a very small budget and with a similar storyline as Night of the Living Dead this time with crazies instead of zombies. The movie is not exactly a great one. Sure the story is quite nice, even a bit thought provoking and there is some good dialog in it, but it's quite badly made. The at parts painfully slow storytelling isn't helping the poor movie in any way. Worth the watch if you're a Romero fan, but not really for anyone else.
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