HMRWSeil - Starring Crazy People

[Seil]

Yeah, the second movie tonight - I had to watch something good, so I went with The Crazies. The flick is set in a small town in rural America, where people have started to go crazy.

Wait, let's start at the beginning: there's not much of one - all the info we get is a satelite map with a command that reads "Start containment protocol." The story then unfolds from the perspective of the town sheriff, David Dutten. His wife, Judy, is the town doctor. While at a baseball game, one of the citizens - Rory - comes on to the field with a loaded gun, and after refusing to lay it down, he's shot in the head by David. Later, it's revealed that another citizen, Bill is acting strange. He's given a physical and sent home. Later that night, Bill locks his wife and son in the closet and sets the house on fire, but when the firefighters and police arrive, he's shown to be braindead... Just sort of standing there.

As more and more townspeople get sick, strange black vans start driving around, observing the situation - the military. They soon arrive in force and quarantine the sick and try to evacuate the rest of the people. However, after the events that occur, the townsfolk are terrified. It's got this whole '28 Days Later' thing going on, with the soldiers herding everyone on trucks the same way you see Nazi soldiers do in all those WWII films.

I think I made a mistake when watching this - it's not a horror move. A thriller, yes; it's got a lot of tense scenes. One man with a pitchfork can... well... It gets your heart pumping. It's a survival story - a good one.

You see, all the characters are well done. They're all characterized beautifully - David's guilt over what he had to do to Rory, Judy caring for her patients and her rage and greif over Bill killing them. Personalities change, though - an infection, military, stress, fatigue - all of these can push a man. As the survivors try to escape the town and the military, they start to argue. It's very true to real life, as stress and fatigue combat common sense. Putting ordinary people - even well trained, compassionate people - into an extraordinary predicament...

I recommend this movie. It hasn't got a lot of scares, and it's a bit slow at times, but it's an okay watch. The acting is pretty good - the only name in the cast that I recognize is Radha Mitchell playing Judy. But there's solid performance, some genuinely tense moments and if you've got a big bowl of popcorn, you're set for the evening.