The Crazies
A military plane carrying a bioweapon crashes near a small Iowa town, leaking the contents into the water system. This makes almost everyone in the town start to go crazy and homicidal while the government quarantines the infected and tries to evacuate everyone else. In the meantime, they’re just shooting people that they think might be affected by the what-have-you. The story follows Olyphant, his physician wife, and one of his deputies as they try to break the military perimeter without getting blown up or killed by one of their crazy, killy neighbors.
I had not intended to watch this movie, but it was on Starz one day and I like Timothy Olyphant so I gave it a shot. The movie is at it’s best when it sticks to being claustrophobic and paranoid. Unfortunately, it strays into being an action movie at times for really no reason at all and that severely limits the tense atmosphere. No one expects a movie like this to tell a super story or anything, but if it’s not going to, at least it could provide some memorable moments. Not sure it actually did that, though I did enjoy the scene with the crazy who was stabbing people with a pitchfork in the hospital.
I would have a hard time recommending this movie to anyone, though I can see where someone who doesn’t like good movies might. I just think it’s too schizo for it’s own good and in the end, just goes nowhere. Plus, the ending is stupid.
Rating: Two stars out of five
I think I still might watch it because of Olyphant. I also look forward to the pitchfork part now. Your review has helped me decide that I’ll need to be drinking before watching this though. Thanks!
Excellent point, I had not thought of that. I take it back, only watch this movie after you’ve had several cocktails.
Okay after watching it, I agree it would have been better if it had stuck to the paranoid, claustrophobic parts, but there were way too many wandering around in the open fields or open roads that were just long and boring. I had no fear that anyone was sneaking up on them.
I also thought it was random when Mike from 24 showed up to explain why everyone was going crazy. I was confused about how exactly it was a bio weapon. What would be the use for it? Make a bunch of people go crazy and shoot everyone? You think they’d want a weapon that would kill them, not drive them to kill others. It just seemed like the movie was all over the place, as if there were a lot of different people throwing story bits onto the fire.