ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - February 26th
"THE CRAZIES" released in 2010
The inhabitants of a small Iowa town is suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply, in Breck Eisner's remake of the classic George A. Romero film, The Crazies!
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In Ogden Marsh, Iowa, sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is forced to kill local Rory Hamill (Mike Hickman) who suddenly threatens the community at a baseball game with a rifle. The sheriff's wife, Dr. Judy Dutten (Radha Mitchell), later examines Bill Farnum (Brett Rickaby), who is also exhibiting a strange behavior; and that night, Bill traps his wife and son in their home and then burns it to the ground, killing both. The following morning, the sheriff and his deputy, Russell Clank (Joe Anderson), are called by three hunters who have discovered a dead pilot in the nearby Hopman Bog, and find a large airplane at the bottom of the bog. As they investigate, the army suddenly seals off the town and imprisons the population in tents and concentration camps, where everyone is examined for symptoms of infection. Before Ogden Marsh is completely sealed off, David, Judy, Russell, and a medical assistant Becca (Danielle Panabaker) escape. They quickly learn that the plane was airborne with a biological weapon and crashed into the bog contaminating the water supply of the population. And To make matters worse, there is no antidote for the victims who are doomed to die or become incurably mad. As the four survivors try to find a breach in the containment to reach the next town, they find they are being hunted by both the army and the ever growing number of Crazies!
TRIVIA: Actress Lynn Lowry, a star from the original film, makes a cameo in the remake billed as "Woman on Bike".
Top: Sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) walks through a deserted town;
Above: As the infection spreads, the army quarantines the town and contains the townspeople.
In February 2008, it was announced that director Breck Eisner would be filming the remake of George A. Romero's 1973 classic horror film, The Crazies (Romero would also act as the remakes Executive Producer). While the original films was shot in the small Pennsylvania towns of Evans City and Zelienople, the remake was mostly shot in and around central Georgia, with locations including the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Priester's Pecans in Perry, Georgia, the Fountain Car Wash in Macon, Georgia, areas in Dublin, Georgia, Peach County High School in Fort Valley, Georgia. Some scenes were also shot in Lenox, Iowa.
The makeup for The Crazies was designed by Robert Green Hall of Almost Human Studios, who also did makeup for other horror films such as Quarantine, Frankenfish and Prom Night. At first, Eisner first visions of what the infected would look like were zombies, with molds and sketches of what the infected should look like, with deformities and skin hanging off. Eventually, Eisner grew tired of the "zombie" look - which he believed to be too cliché - and decided to go for a more realistic "go under the skin," in which the blood vessels would appear to be bursting forth and face and neck muscles and tendons tight and wrought (Eisner described this look as "hyper alive"). With this new direction, the make-up effects crew consulted medical consultants and books depicting rabies, tetanus and Stevens–Johnson syndrome. Each "Crazy" design had about 21 separate pieces that took over three hours to apply for the final effect seen in the film, with the main focus of the design on the veins and eyes; the contact lenses covered the actors' entire eyes and required eye-drops every five minutes to prevent permanent eye damage.
"If we were to pitch something to Breck, about, if you know, one side of his face should look like this, Breck would immediately want to know what disease it came from, and what version of reality it could be implemented into Trixie. But the most important thing was to make sure it felt real. Make it feel like you could get it, too."
Make-up Effects Designer, Robert Green Hall
The makeup for The Crazies was designed by Robert Green Hall of Almost Human Studios, who also did makeup for other horror films such as Quarantine, Frankenfish and Prom Night. At first, Eisner first visions of what the infected would look like were zombies, with molds and sketches of what the infected should look like, with deformities and skin hanging off. Eventually, Eisner grew tired of the "zombie" look - which he believed to be too cliché - and decided to go for a more realistic "go under the skin," in which the blood vessels would appear to be bursting forth and face and neck muscles and tendons tight and wrought (Eisner described this look as "hyper alive"). With this new direction, the make-up effects crew consulted medical consultants and books depicting rabies, tetanus and Stevens–Johnson syndrome. Each "Crazy" design had about 21 separate pieces that took over three hours to apply for the final effect seen in the film, with the main focus of the design on the veins and eyes; the contact lenses covered the actors' entire eyes and required eye-drops every five minutes to prevent permanent eye damage.
TRIVIA: In 2013, George A. Romero claimed he would enjoy making a sequel to his 1973 version The Crazies called The Even Crazier. However, he said it was unlikely due to predictably poor reviews and an apparent lack of interest.
Top and Above: Dutton, his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), nurse Becca (Danielle Panabaker), and deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) desperately search for a way to escape the town, all the while pursued by the growing number of Crazies!
On it's release, The Crazies became the 12th film to be released in select D BOX-enabled cinemas, located in the US and Canada - as had distributors Overture Films release Pandorum the previous year (a D-Box motion feedback track allows the viewer to feel movement and vibration effects in sync with onscreen action). Unlike Romero's film, the remake was both a critical and commercial success, grossing almost $55 million at the US/Canadian box office and receiving mostly positive reviews.
Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune awarded the film 3½ stars of 4 commenting that he "greatly prefer this cleverly sustained and efficiently relentless remake to the '73 edition. It is lean and simple." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe also gave the film 3/4 stars touting the film as "extremely solid stuff – about as good as you could hope from a B-movie retread", while Variety film critic Dennis Harvey sdimilarily praised the film, writing "While not a slam dunk, this revamp by helmer Breck Eisner (of the enjoyable but underperforming Sahara) emerges an above-average genre piece that's equal parts horror-meller and doomsday action thriller."
Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune awarded the film 3½ stars of 4 commenting that he "greatly prefer this cleverly sustained and efficiently relentless remake to the '73 edition. It is lean and simple." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe also gave the film 3/4 stars touting the film as "extremely solid stuff – about as good as you could hope from a B-movie retread", while Variety film critic Dennis Harvey sdimilarily praised the film, writing "While not a slam dunk, this revamp by helmer Breck Eisner (of the enjoyable but underperforming Sahara) emerges an above-average genre piece that's equal parts horror-meller and doomsday action thriller."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 71%
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