"THE CRAZIES" (R) ***3 STARS

    

Residents living the American Dream in a small midwestern town wake up in a horrific, nightmare witnessing most of their family, friends and neighbors slip into complete madness in the movie "THE CRAZIES" from Director Breck Eisner("Sahara"). This updated version of George Romero's classic horror film is told from the residents point of view.

The residents are living their worst night mare fighting for their lives against people they know and love who have turned on them. "The Crazies" is beautifully shot but predictable because you expect to see murder and mayhem but the storyline hooks you because you don't know why this is happening or what's making the people descend into madness?

Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant)and his pregnant wife Dr.Judy Dutton (Radha Mitchell) are the first to try and figure out what's really going on? Dutton discovers the town's water supply is the source of the problem. A biological weapons spill turns residents into mindless, vicious killers. To make matters worse the military is brought in to contain the situation. They shut down access to and from the town and use deadly force against those who are infected, leaving the few healthy residents trapped to fend for themselves.

Becca (Danielle Panabaker) a medical assistant who works with Dr.Dutton and Russell (Joe Anderson) Dutton's Deputy join the Sheriff and his wife on a mission to escape this doomed town.
Will they make it and are they infected?  It's exciting to see if they handle everything they're up against. What's chilling about the movie is the residents of this picture perfect town had no clue the government was working on a top secret project in their area. It makes you wonder if something like this could happen in the real world? "The Crazies" does its job. It's frightening! The violent scenes are very graphic, but if you're a fan of this genre of horror film you'll love it!

(R) Director Breck Eisner

Rating: ***3 Stars