The Crazies is a remake of a George A. Romero film from 1973 and as was the case with Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead redo, this updating has the luxury of a larger budget, slicker production values, and bigger stars. This time around, Romero serves as an executive producer and leaves the directing duties to Sahara helmer Breck Eisner. Eisner keeps the proceedings pretty darn faithful to the original in terms of overall plot (or lack thereof). The Crazies takes place in a small Iowa town called Ogden Marsh and features Timothy Olyphant as a Sheriff who must survive a viral outbreak responsible for turning his fellow townsfolk into murderous lunatics. Along with his wife (played by Radha Mitchell) and two other locals, these terrified individuals try to make it out of the city without being attacked or contracting the very disease that's destroyed their sleepy little town.

The Crazies moves at a brisk pace, and while this horror picture certainly offers up several effective moments (watch for a surprisingly bleak climax), the proceedings are fairly repetitious (too many shots of characters walking across deserted fields and many of the attack sequences begin to blur together). Furthermore, Olyphant is a bit of a blank in the lead. A shame because he can be quite a charismatic actor (see Deadwood or last year's A Perfect Getaway). In The Crazies, he and his fellow cast members aren't given a whole lot to do. Eisner proves to be competent behind the camera. The film certainly looks good. The Crazies also benefits from welcome moments of high camp. And while this picture is leaps and bounds better then dreck like The Happening, it pales in comparison to the similarly themed Zombieland and 28 Days Later.