The Crazies: The Remake

In 1973, horror auteur extraordinaire George A. Romero unleashed his fourth feature film, The Crazies, a provocative story about a small town infected with a deadly virus that spreads even faster than the panic it creates.

Breck Eisner’s new, nail-biting reimagining of Romero’s classic movie goes even further than the original in creating a terrifying world in which an experimental bio-weapon brings out its victims’ darkest thoughts and puts them into action.

“We’ve obviously taken reality and bent it and stretched in some extreme ways,” says Eisner. “But the core of this movie, the inception of the movie, is based in a reality that could happen.”

Producer Rob Cowan says he initially envisioned The Crazies as a relatively small, contained story. “But when I read the script, I realized it was a huge step above most movies in this genre, although it still delivers all the terror and suspense horror fans love.”

Cowan credits Eisner with taking the script to an even higher level. “Breck is such an interesting filmmaker, he really elevated the material,” says the producer. “He approached the script with respect and then added his own unique sensibility, while keeping it extremely scary and creepy.”

The new film was adapted from the original by Ray Wright (Pulse) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror). Wright confesses he never saw the original film until just before he began starting his first draft. “The dramatic situation was so compelling—a small town under siege—and that attracted me to the project. Also, George Romero is a film legend, so I felt privileged to work on something he created.”

Working closely with Eisner, the writers took Romero’s original concept and updated it, resulting in a screenplay that is both truly terrifying and extremely thoughtful. “Breck was involved at every stage of the writing process, from scene construction to line edits,” says Wright. “In the end, I probably did a half-dozen drafts, but most of the significant revisions happened in the first round.”

Eisner adds, “Scott’s initial draft had significantly more military in it. It was closer to the original movie in that it was told from the point of view of the townsfolk as well as the military itself.

We developed this version of the movie more towards the horror, more towards the people in the town. We kept the military in it but we took the movie out of their point of view and told the whole story through David and Judy’s eyes.”

When The Crazies began production, Cowan found himself in the midst of a shoot that was often epic in scope. “We had military convoys and planes,” he says. “There was an armada of helicopters that came in and corralled all the people in the town. Every day we had some kind of big stunt. It was nonstop.”

Two aspects of its plot help The Crazies transcend the horror genre, says the producer. The first is that it’s set in an idyllic farming community that has everything going for it until it’s torn apart from the inside out. “The threat is from people you know well. The film takes a lot of time getting to know the people who become the Crazies. They are often people with whom our main characters have relationships.”

“The other interesting element is the military and how they react,” he says. “They are a real threat, so our heroes are not just dealing with the Crazies. There are two forces coming after them and they have nowhere to turn for help except each other.”

Brian Frankish, associate producer of The Crazies, says Eisner’s energy and outlook helped take the film out of the realm of the ordinary. “Breck has the spirit of youth,” he says. “He also has an eye for seeing what the lens sees. 

He picked wonderful artists to be on his team, like Andrew Menzies, the production designer, and Maxime Alexandre, the director of photography. It all adds up to a piece of eye candy that will hold the audience’s attention visually while they think about what’s going on in front of them.”

This high level of the production values help set the film apart from its predecessor, made on Romero’s customary shoestring budget. “The thing that makes the original film interesting is George Romero,” says Frankish. “It has great writing and the concept he came up with is the same concept we’re dealing with here. It’s not women or teenagers in jeopardy. It’s not a terrible monster stalking a small group of people. This is something bigger. It’s terrifying in a much larger sense.”

Radha Mitchell, who plays Dr. Judy Dutton, the sheriff’s wife and the town doctor, finds the premise of the film more chilling for exactly that reason. “Generally the threat in a film like this is coming from outside,” she says. “In this case, the story is set in a small town where everybody knows everybody else, and the threat is everybody around you. Taking what’s familiar and making it unfamiliar is always an interesting tactic.”

“One of the things I love about this movie is that it takes place in the heartland of America,” Eisner continues, “It is these vast open spaces, these wheat fields and corn fields that go on for miles and miles, these endless plateaus of nothingness that create an epic landscape.

“There are no trees, no houses, no buildings. You can walk down a road with visibility for thirty miles in every direction and that alone limits your options; there is nowhere to hide. Our characters need to avoid the military, the Crazies, and the disease itself as they travel this open and exposed landscape, a landscape that evolves from beautiful to terrifying.”

Adding to the film’s shock value is the speed at which the infection spreads: the virus devastates the entire town in a mere three days. “We shot a scene with David, Tim Olyphant’s character, walking down a pristine, peaceful street,” says Frankish.

“A few days later, we see broken televisions lying in the street and cables pulled out and cars set on fire. The Crazies have taken over the town and the military is unable to contain it. The aftermath is like the riots in Los Angeles or Hurricane Katrina. It’s mayhem.”

The Crazies promises to be thought-provoking entertainment that will prompt audiences to discuss it after they see it, according to Frankish. “I can see students sitting in coffee shops all over the country after seeing this picture saying, ‘What about this? What if that?’ I think it has that lasting value.”

Olyphant, the film’s leading man, points out parallels between the social climates of the era in which Romero wrote the original script and today. “The thing about all Romero’s movies is that they’re clearly about something more than just being scary,” says the actor. “He dialed into some things that were going on at the time, like the Vietnam War. We are in similar circumstances, with a war that people are very divided about.”

But any larger message, says Cowan, is secondary to the entertainment value of the film. “We didn’t try to make a huge message movie. There are elements built into it that reflect the times we live in, and the way people feel about their safety and security. All of that gets into the story without us really having to do much about it. That underlying social commentary is one of the reasons I liked the script.

“Primarily, though, I want people to have fun when they see The Crazies. There are fundamental themes that people can take away from it if they want.

"But at the end of the day, we just want them to enjoy some surprises and maybe forget their troubles for a couple hours. People come in with a lot of built-in fears. In this movie, some of them are played out, and the audience can feel good about it, because it all gets resolved and it’s just for the fun of it.

“The thing about The Crazies that I initially responded to is the journey the characters are forced to go through, the journey that David and his pregnant wife Judy must endure. The audience’s passion for these two characters to escape starts from the first minute of the movie and builds to the last.”

The Crazies is released 26th February.

In 1973, horror auteur extraordinaire George A. Romero unleashed his fourth feature film, The Crazies, a provocative story about a small town infected with a deadly virus that spreads even faster than the panic it creates.

Breck Eisner’s new, nail-biting reimagining of Romero’s classic movie goes even further than the original in creating a terrifying world in which an experimental bio-weapon brings out its victims’ darkest thoughts and puts them into action.

“We’ve obviously taken reality and bent it and stretched in some extreme ways,” says Eisner. “But the core of this movie, the inception of the movie, is based in a reality that could happen.”

Producer Rob Cowan says he initially envisioned The Crazies as a relatively small, contained story. “But when I read the script, I realized it was a huge step above most movies in this genre, although it still delivers all the terror and suspense horror fans love.”

Cowan credits Eisner with taking the script to an even higher level. “Breck is such an interesting filmmaker, he really elevated the material,” says the producer. “He approached the script with respect and then added his own unique sensibility, while keeping it extremely scary and creepy.”

The new film was adapted from the original by Ray Wright (Pulse) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror). Wright confesses he never saw the original film until just before he began starting his first draft. “The dramatic situation was so compelling—a small town under siege—and that attracted me to the project. Also, George Romero is a film legend, so I felt privileged to work on something he created.”

Working closely with Eisner, the writers took Romero’s original concept and updated it, resulting in a screenplay that is both truly terrifying and extremely thoughtful. “Breck was involved at every stage of the writing process, from scene construction to line edits,” says Wright. “In the end, I probably did a half-dozen drafts, but most of the significant revisions happened in the first round.”

Eisner adds, “Scott’s initial draft had significantly more military in it. It was closer to the original movie in that it was told from the point of view of the townsfolk as well as the military itself.

We developed this version of the movie more towards the horror, more towards the people in the town. We kept the military in it but we took the movie out of their point of view and told the whole story through David and Judy’s eyes.”

When The Crazies began production, Cowan found himself in the midst of a shoot that was often epic in scope. “We had military convoys and planes,” he says. “There was an armada of helicopters that came in and corralled all the people in the town. Every day we had some kind of big stunt. It was nonstop.”

Two aspects of its plot help The Crazies transcend the horror genre, says the producer. The first is that it’s set in an idyllic farming community that has everything going for it until it’s torn apart from the inside out. “The threat is from people you know well. The film takes a lot of time getting to know the people who become the Crazies. They are often people with whom our main characters have relationships.”

“The other interesting element is the military and how they react,” he says. “They are a real threat, so our heroes are not just dealing with the Crazies. There are two forces coming after them and they have nowhere to turn for help except each other.”

Brian Frankish, associate producer of The Crazies, says Eisner’s energy and outlook helped take the film out of the realm of the ordinary. “Breck has the spirit of youth,” he says. “He also has an eye for seeing what the lens sees. 

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