Tickets to An Advance Screening of The Crazies!GAME OVER!
In case you can’t tell by my obsession with zombies here on Geek I am a huge fan of George Romero. And while his film The Crazies may not be one of his most well known, it still is a great film about the horrors of biological weaponry and their effects on a small Pennsylvania town. When I first heard they were remaking it I was intrigued to say the least, simply because they usually go after films with a bit more name recognition to them. That way you go in with all the cuddly feelings of the film you had as a child, only to leave sobbing and feeling somewhat violated in the end. Besides, while I am a huge fan of the original you can tell the original was done on a shoestring budget, and I am interested to see what they do with more money and better production values at their disposal with the story.
The plot of the remake goes something like this:
The American Dream goes horribly wrong when the residents of this picture-perfect town begin to succumb to an uncontrollable urge for violence and the horrific bloodshed escalates into anarchy. In an attempt to contain the epidemic, the military uses deadly force to close off access into or out of town, abandoning the few healthy citizens to the growing mayhem as depraved killers lurk in the shadows.
The Crazies comes out Friday, February 26 and stars Timothy Olyphant(Hitman), Radha Mitchell(Surrogates) and is directed by Breck Eisner. Now for the interesting part, the film is written by Scott Kosar. Scott is not too bad at the horror genre remake game as far as I am concerned. He was also responsible for penning both the Amityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes, and also one of my all time favorite films the psychological masterpiece The Machinist. We are giving away 30 advance passes for two to see the film on February 25, 8:00PM at the Ritz Five theater. The first 30 people who comment with their favorite film involving a plague or biological warfare and tell us why before February 25 will get passes, and I will notify them via email before the screening. So comment away and check out the trailer.
I’m also a big Romero fan, and thought his “The Crazies” was among his top 2-3 films. I’m a little skeptical of the new class of remakes, although if this Crazies remake is as good as the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” then I’ll be happy. Another ’70s classic plague/zombie film is David Cronenberg’s “Rabid” with porn-star refugee Marilyn Chambers growing a phallic stinger under her arm after an experimental skin graft goes awry, which quickly spreads a “28-Days Later”-like virus that turns the city into angry rabid zombies.
I thought 28 Days Later was a great one. While the effects were top notch and it really lacked the “cheesy” factor that some zombie movies fall victim to, it even crossed into being a truly disturbing commentary on human nature, and how a few perverse, power hungry maniacs would inevitably turn such an apocalypse into an opportunity to unleash their own horrors on the few remaining decent souls.
The Omega Man. Nothing says “excesses of the 1970s” like Charllton Heston in the Omega Man. I suppose it’s more of a guilty pleasure for me, but still, I can never resist when I see it on television.
I gotta go with 28 days later. This was my introduction to danny boyle, and i loved it. Every second of it. The opening, with an empty london, was just fantastic and a great way to introduce the movie. Soon after, when the ‘zombies’ started attacking, you see the real spin on it.
Before this one, every zombie was shambling and stupid. Now that they charge you with a purpose? So much more terrifying.
The movie is an achievement on so many levels.
Children of Men is the shire knucke-est of them all…plus Mikey Caine is balls awesome.
There have been quite a few great flicks in the “plague or biological warfare” genre over the last few years, but I think I’m going to put my money on “Cabin Fever”.
I wouldn’t call it the best film of the bunch, but it was a refreshing blend of suspense, gore, and camp. From the horror of the friends locking the infected girl in a shed to die alone, to the sheer ridiculousness of the “Kung Fu Pancakes” scene, it stands out as a unique film and makes for a great hour-and-a-half of escapism for those of us who enjoy such things as spring from the mind of Eli Roth.
While not my favorite, I just want to bring up the movie “Gas-s-s-s-s-s”. The forgotten child of the 60s USC film school via Roger Corman output.
From Wikipedia: “The movie is a post-apocalyptic dark comedy, about survivors of an accidental military gas leak, of an experimental agent that kills everyone on Earth over the age of twenty-five.”
It’s a drugged-up mix of The Road, Easy Rider, and a Marx Brothers film.
One of my favorite books/movies/miniseries was The Stand. I’m not the biggest Stephen King fan, but his fantasy novels are top notch, and I think The Stand translated well to the big screen.
Also, not a movie, but the comic Y: The Last Man (Where every male on the face of the planet dies horribly and all at once except the main character and his helper monkey) is a completely immersive series. When I picked up the first tradeback I couldn’t do ANYTHING else until I finished the whole series.
And again with the comics: I’m working my way through Garth Ennis’s Crossed, which is eerily similar to The Crazies in that everyone goes completely nuts and starts disemboweling each other while mutilating themselves, with the exception of a few unaffected survivors. It’s extremely graphic, and not the best comic ever, but it’s good filler until I find something better to read.
I’ll have to chime in with “28 Days Later”. It really was the first time I was introduced to the idea agile deadly infected. I was never terrified of the carriers of a deadly virus until I thought of them sprinting towards me in a cannibalistic rage.
Now I sleep with a shotgun, AND the antivirus under my pillow.
The Andromeda Strain.
It never did the level of damage that you see in many of the other plague movies, but It put crazy ideas in my twelve-year-old-head.
I know newer ones have been much “better” in many ways, but i have fond memories of ‘Return of the Living Dead’. My mom took me to see it in the movies when it came out in 1985. It was completely inappropriate for a kid my age, but that never stopped my Mom. Aside from the obvious gore and violence I very clearly remember some full frontal nudity when a group of punkers decided to party in a cemetery. The girls name was “Trash”, and she really went for it!
Anyway, I’d love to see this movie!
Favorite plague movie: village of the damned.
60′s british horror anyone? shudder.
I’m gonna have to agree with Jon and say “28 Days Later”. I’m actually an animal scientist like the guy in the beginning of the movie. I knew that peta members would cause the end of the world.
I’m just going to throw my hat in and say “The Thing”
In part because I’m stubborn, but in part because it’s so minimalist that the plague (although unorthodox in packaging) has much more sentience and malice (IMO).
Also Kurt Russell.
Also also, I was never able to get into 28 days later. i could see it was a quality film, well conceived and executed, but there was a point at which i kinda tuned out. It was too distant for me, or i distanced myself too much from it – wish i knew which
This question is 1,000 times harder to answer than I originally thought. I was going to jump in and say “The original Night of the Living Dead”… But then I wanted to say the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Mainly because the remake kept true to one of the basic principals of horror in leaving the real horror up to the imagination. Modern horror movies seem to want to explain everything to you. Where’d it come from? How do we kill it? What happens to the heroes in the end?
Yup. I’m going to just stick with my earlier statement, Night of the Living Dead(The Original).
without a doubt “28 Days Later”. the film revitalized the zombie/horror genre when it was released and still bites (no pun intended) with the social commentary especially in the second half of the film.
Can we not forget Outbreak? When the person sneezes in the theater and they show how the germs are airborne and infect everyone? I was in a theater at the time…I think it was the start of my hypochondria! Anyway…even though the cute little monkey was the root of all evil…I still wanted one!
my favorite film about biological warfare and plague is the 1995 movie KIDS.
not only is it one of the realist depictions of our nation’s youth, but it also brings the fear of the AIDS virus closer to home. thanks
Zombieland, the awesome cameo alone makes this great movie worthwhile.
Braindead/Dead Alive. Although I don’t appreciate “kicking ass for the lord” so much, i can sure appreciate the zeal in the wake of the apocalypse.
i think 28 days later was the best but crazies is a little different . crazies the zombies know how to use a gun
i like zombieland, i think crazies is the same
classic nite of the living dead i love it , that brain eater but crazies will shoot you
daybreak is the best.i think they are the same zombie
i love 28 day later, flash eater zombie
12 Monkeys. Terry Gilliam, time travel and crazy Brad Pitt make for one fantastic plague film.
Maybe a little obscure, but…How about The Grapes of Death?
Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later are my personal favorites and I saw NOTLD in a drive-in theater when I was little, so I’ll always remember that, but my favorite has to be Shaun of the Dead– it perfected the art of the horror comedy!
I’d give the marketing of the Andromeda Strain (TV version) honorable mention. I started to think the voice mail and the “What Happened in Piedmont” website were real!
I have to say the original Dawn of the Dead. Excellent film with alot of subtext about human beings, their lives, commercialism, normalcy. And oh yeah… awesome zombies.
[rec]. javier botet is the sexist zombie you ever shall lay eyes on.
Contest Closed!