The Crazies was one of George Romero’s early ventures, made 5 years after Night Of The Living Dead and just before his TV documentary O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose.

The plot involved a biochemical weapon accidentally unleashed upon a small town and the military’s futile effort to clean up the mess…Which became increasingly bloody as the affected townsfolk were transformed into crazed killers.

That set-up should hint at its similarities to Night Of The Living Dead. Unfortunately, while Living Dead was an intense, horrific masterpiece, The Crazies suffers from choppy storytelling and painfully slow pacing. It’s one of my biggest disappointments in my ongoing quest to track down obscure horror films.

Hopefully those involved in the remake will be able to take advantage of the still-intriguing concept and deliver some genuine cinematic shocks. And there is reason to be optimistic: The film is being directed by Breck Eisner, who did a competent enough job on his first film Sahara. The lead is Timothy Olyphant (Hitman, Live Free Of Die Hard and most memorably HBO’s Deadwood), who has proved himself to be a solid actor.

And now the female lead has been cast in the curvy form of Radha Mitchell, who has also proved herself in such prestige projects as Finding Neverland and Woody Allen’s Miranda And Miranda. However, she is no shrinking violet when it comes to the horror genre either, with leads in Silent Hill and Rogue (in which she battles a giant crocodile in the Australian outback).

It’s a good thing hazard suits have never stopped being creepy as hell.

Source: AintItCool