The Crazies – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

When I think of George A. Romero and the two films in his oeuvre that I am not enamored with: Season of the Witch and The Crazies jump to the forefront. The latter deals with a Pennsylvania town that is consumed by a man-made virus that causes the townspeople to go insane. I’ve seen the flick once, don’t recall a thing that was captivating about it, and have zero interest in watching it again. So what I am saying is, if there was ever a movie that needed to be remade, it’s The Crazies.

A plane carrying a secret biological weapon crashes into a lake in the diminutive town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa (actually filmed in Lenox, IA) contaminating the water supply. The toxin slowly takes over individuals causing them to kill and maim their neighbors and loved ones. The first sign of trouble is when a baseball game is brought to a halt by a shotgun toting “crazy” who gets a bullet to the brain courtesy of the local sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant). Soon enough, he and Deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) are bombarded with phone calls reporting random violence and strange behavior.

The U.S. government arrives with guns and contamination suits and are hellbent on keeping this outbreak from spreading any further. They take David’s pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) to be “cleansed” because she shows signs of the disease, so the couple makes an escape along with Russell and townie Becca (Danielle Panabaker). From here we are left with four people that we genuinely care about as they run into the lion’s den time and time again.

(Spoiler) Now look away, I am going to talk about the end. Remember how cool the finale of Return of the Living Dead was when a bomb was dropped on a small city by our beloved higher ups? Imagine if you will a Terminator 2: Judgement Day sized nuclear blast that literally shook the whole damn theater. Talk about going out with a bang! (End Spoiler)

Other than his episode of Fear Itself [The Sacrifice], I am not that familiar with the work of director Breck Eisner. I know he made Sahara, which a lot of fans seemed to abhor, but I can say he has made a damn good film that pushed the original that much further back into the recesses of my mind. He has a slick visual style that meshed well with the bloody carnage on display from Robert Hall [Laid to Rest] and his team of FX artists. You really felt like this town exists and that these are the last people on Earth. On a negative note, Breck does overly rely on the ‘boo’ scare tactic that is getting really cliché and outdated.

While The Crazies is a redux of a 1973 flick, you can’t help but think of The Stand, Outbreak, and more recently Carriers, in its depiction of a bacterium that causes death, madness and lunacy. And just for the record, these are not zombies; they are deranged son of a guns with a predilection for murder.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Anchor Bay/Starz might have just released their best HD effort so far. The video is spot-on with deep black levels and solid color reproduction. The image is highly detailed, as well. This looks far better here than in the theaters, in my opinion. The PCM 5.1 uncompressed audio track is equally as good, although I would have liked the score to be a bit more fuller, but the bass and surround elements fully engulf you into the film, much like any good horror film’s sound design should.

Commentary: Breck Eisner rolls solo here, yet delivers a well-informed track that fans will dig. He covers the entire production from pre- to post, as well as the similarities and differences to the Romero film. Worth a listen, for sure.

Behind the Scenes with Director Breck Eisner: This is your typical fluff piece with promo elements and interviews for 10 minutes. Light and passable.

Make-Up Mastermind: Rob Hall in Action: This informative piece follows Almost Human FX’s Robert Hall in a step-by-step application of the make-up effects used in the film, as is the similar Paranormal Pandemic that also focuses on the make-up.

The George A. Romero Template: It runs nine minutes as director Don Coscacarelli (Phantasm) and Uncle Creepy with others talk about Romero’s influence in the genre. Too bad Killer Film wasn’t included; we have our fair share of insights.

The Crazies Motion Comics offers two little episodes that work as a prologue and footnotes to the film’s plot; Visual Effects in Motion looks at the CG effects and how they were created for a few minutes; and rounding out the disc is Storyboards, Trailers, and a Stills Gallery. Disc 2 is the Digital Copy.

Conclusion: Bottom line: you’d be crazy to not see this killer film that also has a cameo from Lynn Lowry, who was in the original, all on a great Blu-ray disc.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: