The Crazies (2010)

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Year:	2010
Country of origin:	USA / UAE
Director:	Breck Eisner
Genre:	Viral paranoia
Starring:	Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455407/
Tagline:	Fear Thy Neighbor
Favourite line:	"Don't ask me why I can't leave without my wife and I won't ask you why you can."

Yet another remake of a horror classic, this one came out of nowhere, really, as few outside the circle of true horror fans are likely to have even heard of the original.

The plot:
A college baseball team are mid-game when onto the field of play wanders a local, known to be slightly eccentric. Thought to be drunk, the town's Sheriff approaches, only for the man to point a shotgun at him.
Instinctively, the Sheriff shoots him point blank.
Assuming alcohol to be the cause for his behaviour, the Sheriff is surprised when the toxicology report indicates no alcohol in his bloodstream.
Next, an ordinary family man sets fire to the family home, with wife and children inside. So begins a sequence of events that will see the town quarantined, as an unknown virus contaminates the population, the government unprepared to answer any questions, intent instead upon eradicating the problem via a Scorched Earth policy.
Can the Sheriff and his family get out alive?

George Romero's original is oft hailed as a cult classic, but that is stretching it a little. Overly long, bloated and amateurish in places, the remake strips away all the fat, trims the story right down to the bone and focuses on one man's struggle against seemingly impossible odds.
And, say it quietly, folks: it's better than the source material.
Gone are the prolonged sequences where nothing really happens.
Gone are the overtly political exchanges of dialogue that really take you nowhere.
All replaced, but replaced for the better, by nought but tension and fear.
Just how would you react if your town was cut off from the rest of civilisation, and you were forced to fight enemies both beyond and within the boundary of the quarantine?
Decent performances, the odd moment of gore, and an occasional spot of the old ultra-violence, this is perhaps unique amongst remakes in that it only serves to improve upon the original.
I feel slightly ashamed of myself, now......