"The Crazies" Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

While remakes are big-time moneymakers when it comes to the general public, they tend to be the bane of the film buff's existence. Many may say or think: "Who do these studios, producers and directors think they are trying to mooch money out of people by shamelessly recreating films I already adore?" I generally think the complete opposite. I love film and respect an artist's original work, but the idea of reinterpretation of material, whether it was originally good or not, is always interesting to me. Sure, plenty of failures have spawned from the practice, but that's no reason to generalize.

Of course, the primary genre that remakes fall into is horror, and few directors have had their previous work adapted or ripped off as frequently as George A. Romero, king of the zombie film and the man who brought us the "...of the Dead" series (which he continues to add to today, with the sixth installment, "Survival of the Dead," due next year). Arguabl,y his most well-known non-zombie film, "The Crazies," is the latest of his work to be remade. The trailer suggests a remake very possibly as good as Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead."

The film retains the small town setting of Romero's original, in which a sheriff and a few survivors are faced with an epidemic of rage (somewhat similar to the infected characters of "28 Days Later"). The original also followed the military as they attempted to stifle the infection (which they caused), but the trailer suggests that the military will serve more as an enigmatic and antagonistic force this time around (no word on whether the infection is still their fault). I think that allows for much more mystery overall and significantly more focus on the characters, which is terrific considering the excellent cast, with Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as the sheriff and his wife.

In the trailer, we don't get too many good glimpses of the infected characters, but what can be seen looks thoroughly creepy, and the somber colors and usage of Gary Jules' "Mad World" at the end of trailer assist greatly in conveying an intense and moody atmosphere.

Obviously one should always go into a horror remake with caution, but "The Crazies" looks like another one of few exceptions to the rule that horror remakes can't be great. I'm certainly looking forward to it. The film will be released on February 26, 2010.

View the trailer for "The Crazies" below. Thoughts?