The Crazies

The 2010 horror film The Crazies is a remake of a 1973 movie of the same name by director George Romero. Both films concern the accidental release of a biological weapon by the US Military and the impact of this disaster on a nearby small town. The original film cut back and forth between two perspectives - the local citizens attempting to remain safe after a mysterious toxin starts turning their fellow citizens insane, and the government and military's attempts to contain the spread of the toxin.

The original film is set in the real location of Evans City, Pennsylvania, while the remake relocates the action to the fictional town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa.

The remake was relatively well-received for a horror film, earning a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the style with which the film was directed by Breck Eisner, the set design and gore effects, as well as the conspiracy thriller aspect to the film.http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1205380-crazies/

Though the original Romero film has experienced a revival of interest, the original was not warmly received or financially successful upon its release. A departure for a director who had, at that time, been best known for his popular zombie movies, the epidemic thriller struggled to find an audience in the 1970s, which Romero had long blamed on poor marketing and support from the studio. The original film is considered significant in the development of the "infection" sub-genre of horror films, which has later included entires such as David Cronenberg's Shivers, The Dustin Hoffman thriller Outbreak and the Danny Boyle zombie thriller 28 Days Later.http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/21/entertainment/la-ca-secondlook21-2010feb21