Opening 27 May 2010
Directed by:
Breck Eisner
Writing credits:
Scott Kosar, Ray Wright, George A. Romero
Principal actors:
Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith
What better site for a horror movie than a small U.S. Midwestern town? Just think about it:
isolated fields, empty highways, truck stop, farm house
with creaky wooden stairways, menacing farm machinery, trailer trucks, hunting
rifles, pitch forks, old barns, yellow school bus, overalls and high rubber
boots. It’s all there in this scary movie by Breck Eisner. David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is the sheriff of
Ogden Marsh, Iowa. He and his deputy Russel (Joe Anderson) must cope with local
citizens who suddenly become insane, shoot people and set fires. By the time
they know that a cargo of TRIXIE (a secret U.S. government formula lost in transit)
is slowly poisoning the water supply, it is too late; the townspeople are
infected and sentenced to uncontrollable weird behavior and blotchy skin.
Within 48 hours the town is destroyed and these two, along with David’s wife
Judy and their friend Becca, are on the run from their
former neighbors as well as the U.S. military, which suddenly accepts responsiblity. Panic-stricken, they go from one catastrophe
to the next in their attempt to reach safety.
This is a remake of a 1973 film
with the same name by George A. Romero. My colleagues assured me that the
original was simply a bad film, even if Romero was quite successful with Night of the Living Dead. It’s rare that
a remake is better than the original, but this one is so well-balanced, with
just the right amount of tension which builds up to a climax and then gives release
so that you can catch your breath before the next catastrophe occurs. This
perfect timing and lack of repetition keeps you on your toes until the film
ends in a classic scene with two people, framed from behind by a giant fireball,
gazing across an empty field at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and safety. The excellent music by
Mark Isham underscores all of the above.
I just have
to get personal here; all the outside shots were made in Lenox, Iowa, just an hour from my Missouri hometown (where our high school
sports team was also called the Tigers – just like in Ogden Marsh). It was enough to make me homesick, and I never thought I would miss that area of the world. Image thinking that Cedar Rapids, Iowa, would be the answer to anyone’s prayers! Naturally, you have to like scary movies to like this one, but it is very good for the genre, and you’ll never ride through a car wash again. (Becky Tan)
