The Crazies (2010)

Ah, another remake. This time, we have a little known George Romero movie being remade. This is a remake I don’t have a problem with because it’s little known and apparently not a movie that has aged well. So why not update it and fix some problems. And I can tell you, it’s a very good movie.

We focus on a small town in Iowa that is accidentally infected with a biological weapon. Timothy Olyhphant stars as Sheriff David Dutton and Radha Mitchell plays his wife and town doctor Judy. We also have Joe Anderson as Deputy Russell Clank and Danielle Panabaker as Judys Assistant Becca. Everyone gives good performances here, grounding the film and giving us characters we care about. Olyphant is badass yet very human.

I think the best thing about this movie is we are just as in the dark as the characters. The movie starts off at a high school baseball game that is interrupted by a townsman with a shotgun walking onto the field. We know whats wrong in the sense we know he’s been infected. But we don’t know what that implies, and from this scene on we are propelled forward.

The tension is pretty good in this movie. Director Breck Eisner crafts a moody little film here. The scares are well crafted and even the jump scenes are better than most. I think the best thing I can say for this movie is that it feels like a Stephen King book. Think “The Stand” on a smaller scale.

The movie isn’t without it’s flaws. Some minor characters aren’t well acted and some of the dialogue is a but clunky. Editing is a bit iffy here and there. While not a negative, but something that should be mentioned is the amount of blood. While there is blood in this movie, there where some scenes that should have had a lot more blood. Now, I don’t think the movie should have been a blood bath. It’s just some acts of violence should have had considerably larger amount of blood. But I think overall the violence was done well, a middle ground between a Rob Zombie movie and a pg 13 “horror” movie.

Overall, I think this was a very good movie. It builds a very good paranoid story about distrusting the government and has a strong atmosphere. The acting is good throughout and the director shows a strong sense of scares. I would like to see him do some more horror, maybe let loose a little more with the violence. I also have to give big props for the ending, which just builds and builds to a very nihilistic ending. I enjoyed and recommend it.

8.5 out of 10. Maybe more on a second viewing.

The Last House On The Left (2009)

Here we have yet another remake of a Wes Craven movie. This time, it is his very first movie being remade, “Last House On The Left”. Where Craven’s was a cheap as shit brutal horror film, this one is a little more expensive with a more Hollywood cast. No big names per say, but everyone here is either someone you know or one of those guys who you say “where have I seen them?”.

I’m gonna get this out of the way. This movie is brutal as shit. Not many horror films coming out of hollywood these days are this brutal. Not even the “Saw” franchise is this brutal. But that’s because this movie has actual characters, unlike “Saw” which generally has the equivalent of hookers in GTA. But this movie is not like the original which had a large portion of the movie dedicated to the two girls being tortured by these fucks. This movie is brutal in its realistic treatment of violence.

This movie is fairly realistic once you look past the luck of picking up a girl and trying to kill her very close by her house. This is a very strong movie in the remakes genre and definitely stands head and shoulders above horror movies this decade. I think the main reason lies in the director Dennis Iliadis. The man is from Greece and his first movie wowed Wes Craven so much he got the job for this, and I can see why. This movie is not like other horror movies recently with edits that barely register and a boring as shit cast. The man brought this unflinching talent to bring horror to the screen. There is some real talent on display here and I hope this guy gets alot more work.

The cast in this movie is really good. I think the weakest in this film is either Sara Paxton as Mari or Martha MacIssac as her friend Paige. With Paxton, I feel its because the majority of her screen time is being terrorized by this lunatics. So I can give her a pass. But with MacIssac, even though her scenes are basically being terrorized, I didn’t feel anything for her. But I can just chalk it up to short screen time, being in it a little less that Paxton. But everyone else shines in this movie.

Spencer Clark, who some may remember as Bruce Willis’ son in “Unbreakable”, play Justin in this, son of Krug. Clark is very good in this role as this boy who is dragged around the country by his father, uncle and step mother and watches them commit these horrible acts. The kid is not like them and is haunted by the things around him. Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad” is Krugs brother Francis. The man is so vile and just plain evil. He just repulses one. Riki Lindhome in her first big role is Krugs girlfriend Sadie. She is just as evil as the rest, but she seems worse to me. She watches as these guys torture two young girls and has no sense of responsibility. Its sickening. Monica Potter is great as Mari’s mother Emma, who has to deal with what happened to her daughter and has to fight to survive. But the two best performances are from the heads of each group.

Tony Goldwyn, famous for “Ghost” and other projects, is John Collingwood. He is a doctor, husband and father. He has this strong presence in the movie. He comes off as a good guy but he unleashes this fury and anger when he sees what happened to Mari. He is so good as this father who feels he failed his daughter and seeks revenge. Then we have Garret Dillahunt as the criminal leader Krug. Dillahunt has been criminally underutilized for years and finally gets a role that allows him to show what he is capable of. He is pure evil as Krug. The man who will smile at you and try to convince you it’s all your fault he’s doing this. He is a great villain and adds so many layers to this guy its hard to not feel scared of this guy. This movie has actual characters instead of cut outs and it really benefits from it.

The final thing this movie benefits from is its unflinching and unbelievably brutal violence. Just another surprise in a hollywood horror movie. While the movie isn’t 100 percent blood and gore, what is here is just insane. From knife wounds to gunshots to burns to a rape and many other sickening acts of violence, this movie holds nothing back. It can be a bit unsettling to some. There’s one particular act of carnage that is far and away more brutal than almost anything else in the film (although one comes really close). It may be one of the most brutal scenes I’ve seen in a while. And that’s the key word in this movie. Brutal. While other horror movies are more creative, they don’t match the pain and physical toll this movie gives it’s violence.

This movie isn’t fun in the normal sense of the word. It’s a brutal and at times disturbing movie that isn’t the typical horror movie. For those who want a “Friday The 13th” style romp thats just tits and ridiculous kills, look away. This movie has real characters in a realistic situation doing very terrible things. It feels very real and it’s not for everyone. Fortunately I am a fucking lunatic, so this movie was right up my alley. If you are too, I recommend it. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s really well made.

9 out of 10.