"The Crazies" (2010)

The remake of a 1975 George Romero movie, "The Crazies" follows David (Timothy Olyphant), the sheriff of the all-American town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa. On the opening day of little league, one of the townsfolk inexplicably walks out onto the field with his shotgun, and David is forced to put him down. The next night, another citizen locks his wife and son inside their farmhouse and sets the home on fire. David thinks he figures out what is going on in his quiet little town when he finds a government plane downed in the local marsh, but he discovers this too little too late. The government has already taken the town off the grid, and the people have started to go crazy. That's when the government moves in and sets the town up for quarantine. David, his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), his deputy Russell, and Becca (Danielle Panabaker) try to escape whatever is going on.

The original "The Crazies" was one of the first movies to toy with the fact that the government is the bad guy, which this movie also uses as a theme. The government made a mistake, one of their substances got out to turn an entire town into murderous psychopaths, and they do their best to cover it up like it never happened. We see a plot similar to that all the time now, but in 1975 it was very original. And this movie did a really good job of updating it.

Much of "The Crazies" is very predictable, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. It is violent and bloody, but good. I think it's a pretty underrated movie, actually. It's a nice fresh spin on the zombie flick. When you're turned by the virus, you can still move and speak like normal, but you can't think for yourself. You just get angry and violent, wanting to kill and torture for the fun of it. Watching Russell's personality deteriorate as the disease spreads is one of the best elements of the movie.

Timothy Olyphant gives a great performance. I'm always so sad to see he doesn't get major roles in movies, because I've never disliked him in anything. I hope he lands that magical role soon, because I'd love to see him in more movies, and larger ones. I think he pops up once more during the course of our collection, and unfortunately it's not that great of a movie (I'm talking about you, "I Am Number Four").

Check it out. Like I said, it's predictable, but still a good watch. Plus, some of the makeup they use late in the movie looks really good. Plus, you never really think of a car wash as being a great spot for a scare scene in horror movies, but it works great. If you liked "28 Days Later" and/or "28 Weeks Later", then this is right up your alley.