Movie Discussion: "The Crazies"

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

I've seen a lot of "zombie" movies lately, so I was pleasantly surprised to see them play down that suggestion in "The Crazies." I really liked the atmosphere in this movie. There was a sort of controlled mental chaos. I hate when horror movies show nothing but seat jolting clips. You know the kind I mean. It's not scary, it just surprises you. I don't really see the point. The crazies really only had one scene like that, so I can deal with it.

The storyline was pretty good. A plane carrying biological weapons crashes and gets into the water supply. As the water travels downstream and slowly trickles into people's homes they start going crazy. It would never happen, but it's still more likely than actual walking un-dead. I would have preferred that the "crazies" never changed appearance. If in fact it's all mental then I don't see the point in their physical appearance actually changing. But I can see where the director was going with it. I just personally think it would have added a nice element of mystery to not be able to tell from appearance who was sick. Sort of a "Can I trust this person who's looking at me weird?" type of thing.

The main characters were rather likable. Good looking sheriff and his hot doctor wife. It was easy to tell form the beginning that they would be the only survivors, but the movie was good enough that I didn't care about the predictability. A well directed movie doesn't have to have a completely unpredictable storyline.

Overall I really liked the movie. Good actors, believable story, gut wrenching scenes. Everything I could want from a horror movie. And the best part for me is that it leaves room for a sequel. I'm excited to see if there's a "Crazies Return" in the mix.