These days, Timothy Olyphant is one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood. The Hawaiian native has forged an incredible career over the last three decades, lending his laconic charm and steely-eyed resolve to movies and TV shows of wildly varying genres. Over the years, he evolved from playing menacing villains in horror movies like Scream 2 and action flicks like Live Free or Die Hard to becoming a funny, likable presence in shows like Santa Clarita Diet and The Office. Having said that, the two roles that have undoubtedly defined his career are a pair of iconic Western lawmen: Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood and US Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified, two characters who could be viewed as flip sides of the same coin.
Interestingly, though, in 2010 — the same year he began playing Givens in FX’s brilliantly written Elmore Leonard adaptation — Olyphant was once again in lawman mode, this time on the big screen in a rare leading man role. Indeed, his intense performance as Sheriff David Dutten in the horror remake The Crazies is, to this day, one of only a handful of times in which he was given the chance to anchor a movie. Naturally, he equipped himself brilliantly, and the movie itself still holds up as a modern classic of ruthless, streamlined, horrifyingly prescient horror moviemaking.
The Crazies Took Its Cues From the Father of the Zombie Movie
A police officer covered in blood looks horrified in The CraziesImage via Overture Films
The Crazies, directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara, The Last Witch Hunter), was a remake of a 1973 sci-fi chiller directed by George A Romero. At that time, Romero had birthed the zombie film as we know it with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, but had subsequently tried to diversify his career. As hard as it may be to imagine now, his second feature film (There’s Always Vanilla) was a romcom, while his third (Jack’s Wife) was a drama about a suburban housewife who becomes interested in witchcraft.
Neither of these movies made much of an impact, so Romero returned to the horror genre for this fourth effort and told the spine-chilling tale of a sleepy American backwater being accidentally infected by a military bioweapon. When the townsfolk drink from the local water supply, which has been infected by a virus code-named ‘Trixie’, they become uncontrollably murderous. These ‘crazies’ unleash hell on the people who were once their friends and neighbors, all while an Army Colonel and a doctor try desperately to find a cure, and a local family does everything it can to escape the chaos.
Now, the infected townspeople in Romero’s The Crazies weren’t technically members of the undead, so it can’t be labeled a ‘zombie movie’, per se. Having said that, by presenting his antagonists as normal people infected by a virus that transforms them into malevolent monsters, the film could be viewed as a precursor to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, another filmoften wrongly dubbed a ‘zombie movie.’ Wherever you stand on that designation, though, it seems likely that Boyle may have found inspiration for his own infected humans in The Crazies. After all, 28 Days Later’s ‘zombies’ were actually bloodthirsty people infected by a horrifying rage virus, just like Romero’s. Things then came full circle when, ironically, the popularity of Boyle’s movie helped prompt Paramount Pictures to greenlight a remake of The Crazies.
The Horror Remake Was Even More Bleak Than Romero’s Original Film
Men in hazmat suits search a woman in The Crazies 2010Image via Overture Films
In Eisner’s updated version of The Crazies, written by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright, the story is ruthlessly cut down to its bare essentials. This time, the narrative only follows four residents: Olyphant’s Dutten, his wife Judy, his Deputy Russell, and Judy’s assistant Becca. As the audience watches them trying to find a way out of the town, which is descending into murder and mayhem, they are never granted a reprieve or a switch of perspective, as in Romero’s film. There is no subplot with a Colonel and a scientist searching for a cure for the virus, which completely changes the way the military is presented.
In Eisner’s movie, the military makes no effort to help the townsfolk; instead, it is depicted as a shadowy, unknowable force that spies on the town, quarantines survivors, and violently disposes of the infected. This version of the American military industrial complex isn’t interested in saving anyone. It simply aims to contain the spread of the virus and ensure that no one outside the town ever learns about the disaster.
Some viewers may think that disposing of any heroism within the military makes the modern Crazies too bleak and unrelenting to watch. However, in an age where more and more people are distrustful of government agencies and those in positions of power, it can’t be denied that this approach gives the film a nihilistic, disquieting power. The audience learns early on that, when it comes to staying alive and avoiding infection, Olyphant and his loved ones are on their own. They won’t be receiving any aid, so it’s up to them to find a way to survive long enough to escape the town. This means the story is fairly straightforward and simple, but it is also propulsive and exciting, as every scene features extremely relatable life and death stakes.
The Crazies Boasts Several Genuinely Shocking, Pulse-Pounding Set-Pieces
The government’s agents wear hazmat suits in The CraziesImage via Overture Films
One of the most memorable things about The Crazies has always been how fully Eisner and his writers commit to its stark, harsh tone. Indeed, thanks to this commitment, the movie’s unrelenting bleakness becomes a feature, not a drawback. After all, viewers quickly find out they’re watching a film that will take no prisoners when, in the opening scene, Olyphant’s traumatized Sheriff is forced to shoot and kill a local resident. This is someone he has known for years, but when he walks onto the local baseball field brandishing a shotgun in the middle of a game, Dutten has no other choice but to put a bullet between his eyes.
As far as openings for a horror movie go, it’s undeniably an attention-grabber, and it sets the audience on edge. Soon after, another resident burns down his own farmhouse with his wife and child inside — another haunting image that will lodge itself in the brain for days on end — and it becomes blindingly obvious that this film won’t have a happy ending.
As the movie continues, Eisner delivers some truly creative set pieces that are guaranteed to get pulses racing. There’s the moment when Judy wakes up strapped to a hospital gurney alongside countless others in the same position. To her horror, an infected resident then enters, slowly and methodically working their way through every helpless, restrained person by running them through with a pitchfork. In another scene, Dutten and company take refuge in a car wash, only to be attacked by a swarm of the infected, who drag Becca out of the vehicle with a hose and snap her neck. Finally, the movie ends with the bracing image of the entire town being nuked from orbit by the military, with Dutten and Judy the only residents to make it out alive.
At the time of its release, The Crazies was a financial success, making $54.8 million on a budget of $20 million. It received highly positive reviews from some critics, who appreciated the great artistry in crafting a lean, mean, and highly effective B-picture. Others dismissed it as just another zombie movie, though, and even dinged it for taking itself too seriously. However, as time has gone on, the ruthless nature and bleak outlook of The Crazies remake are definitely what set it apart from other similar films and mark it as a modern horror classic that will keep being discovered by new audiences on streaming for years to come.
- Release Date
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February 26, 2010
- Runtime
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101 minutes
- Director
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Breck Eisner
- Writers
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Scott Kosar, Ray Wright, George A. Romero
- Producers
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Michael Aguilar, Rob Cowan, Dean Georgaris
