The Crazies

The new version of Romero's The Crazies is far better than the vast majority of the current crop of horror remakes (though not quite on a par with Dawn of the Dead) It helps of course that the original deals with adult characters rather than the vacuous, annoying teenagers of the endless run of slasher remakes. The details might be changed but the characters - sheriff, deputy, doctor - are mostly sympathetic and behave in an understandable manner. Nor has the film entirely lost the savage view of the authorities, especially the military. As one character points out, the biological weapon was supposed to turn a community against itself "just not this community". In time honoured fashion, rather than admit guilt a brutal and ruthless coverup is launched (think large scale collateral damage) Amidst the clutch of creepy setpieces one of the most unsettling is the track back through a truck full of charred corpses - last seen as uninfected townsfolk being bussed to "safety".
The film as a whole is admirably restrained: no gushing geysers of blood or severed limbs flying all over the place, and minimal CGI pyrotechnics. There might be some inconsistency in the behaviour of the infected (mostly uncommunicative, one pair manage what counts as a short conversation when the plot - or a forgetful audience - requires it) but the vacant expressions of the crazies in the early scenes are in some ways more unnerving than their murderous acts. A man is calmly unconcerned at burning his family to death ("he was mowing the lawn" the sheriff's told), and another sits staring into space at the sportsfield where an earlier incident occurred. These scenes fit into the bleakness permeating the film.
Nor is our hero indestructible. Resilient, yes; intelligent, yes; but he also needs to be saved no less than three times by his deputy, which actually sets up a rather bittersweet moment later on. And it's always asking for trouble to wander alone into a morgue - the audience knows those shrouded bodies are never as still and silent as they appear. Full marks though for using a car wash as a scene of unexpected terror, and the scene where one of the crazies (with pitchfork) wanders into a ward containing strapped-down infected townsfolk is a cracker.