Movie Review: The Crazies

Any movie that markets itself with Gary Jule’s Mad World song in its trailer already gets my interest. The movie is named after people who become infected with a toxin that causes a complete break down of rationality and restraint, and makes people insane with murderous rage. Starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, the small town of Ogden Marsh collapses from the weight of “the crazies.” But does the movie succeed in being a scary ride or does it simply fizzle in the starting gate?

Well the good news is that the movie starts off pretty quick. The first interaction with an infected person is one of the best scenes in the movie. However, the biggest problem with the movie is pacing. I don’t mind scary movies that explain the predicament our good heroes find themselves in. When a movie unequally distributes the scare with the information, however, what happens is either the movie attempts to be rationale but watered down by too much horror, or it becomes a bit too much intellectual. The Crazies is a scary movie, when it is scary. I found myself forgetting I was watching a horror movie, because “the crazies” are only in what feels like maybe a quarter of the movie. The rest of the time we get a lot of walking.

A few interactions with the military offer the film a reprieve from strictly resting upon “the crazies,” but they give the heroes the backstory about the outbreak a bit too easy. The movie begins to pick up steam a bit too late, with the characters facing off against both the military and “the crazies.” There are a few good scares, but they are too far between. The pacing made the movie feel too long, and ultimately made me care little about any down time in the movie. Check it out if you want a few good scares, but don’t expect too many of them or for them to last as long as you’d like.

Fanboyz Grade: C