Remakes are a contentious issue, especially in a financial climate where every other greenlit Hollywood project is based on a known property, with executives comforting themselves that an established film licence will be a safer bet. Horror has seemed to suffer more than most genres, with remakes divided into two camps: either suffocated at the hands of the dreaded PG-13 rating (Prom Night, The Stepfather), or with all the subtle skill of the original replaced with torture and gore, delivered with the brutality of a sledge hammer (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween).

I still find myself watching most of them though, as I'm well aware that without remakes there would be no John Carpenter's The Thing, but the good ones are very few and far between, with the adaptations of George Romero's own work being a fine example of how things can go either way. Tom Savini made an enjoyably trashy remake of Night Of The Living Dead back in 1990, while 2008 had the Mena Suvari starring Day Of The Dead spat at it. Thankfully Zack Snyder's version of Dawn Of The Dead managed the near impossible feat of gaining accolades from numerous horror fans. From the outset The Crazies takes the bold step of aligning itself with Snyder's film; Johnny Cash plays during the film's opening and deservedly so, as it's a fantastic and thrilling jumpfest from start to finish.

I felt utterly at home in the setting of Ogden Marsh within seconds, a piece of small town America as familiar and comforting to film saturated brains as deep space. Critters, Gremlins, Slither and countless more have shown us local law enforcement struggling with a chaotic outbreak in their communities, but the much underused Timothy Olyphant (as Sheriff David Dutton) has a problem on his hands within minutes of The Crazies' start. ... read more