"The Crazies": Personal Film Review

The Crazies (2010) Film Review

Brief Plot Outline:

The film is about a residence of an American Town which is plagued by insanity and death after a toxin contaminates their water supply.

Which two scenes impressed you the most and why?

I found that the scene in which the car was attacked was very impressive. There is a use of quick montage to create a sense of panic and speeds up the audience’s heart rate. There is also a really good scene within the baby’s nursery. Here we can see body horror where we see the knife going through the person's hand and neck, this makes you feel unsettled. Similar to body horror used in Evil Dead (2013) Canted angles are shown on the male and female who have contracted the virus and this connotes to us their weirdness.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of film-making? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When and How?

There were many features that I spotted which are shown on the genre checklist. Restricted narration is used in the morgue when the rotating blade enters into the infected man. We don’t actually see this happen but as we see blood splatter across the wall. This keeps the violence off-screen and implies to the audience what is happening. This technique was also used in Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1991) during the murder of Tyrell by Roy Batty, where there is no on-screen violence but sound effects and other features makes you imagine what could be happening. The film presents themes such as fear of death and violence, especially in the scene with the pitchfork however it also incorporates the theme of being trapped as Bill traps his wife and son in the cupboard and sets the house on fire at the beginning of the film.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer and why?

Aspects that I wish to include within my own horror trailer from this particular film consists of collision cutting, this is seen in the film when David and his partner were looking at Bills ‘dead’ body. The editing is slow and quiet. Bill then jumps up and begins screaming causing it to be contrastingly loud. We do not like this as it makes up jump. Slow montage would also be an effective aspect to add to my own horror trailer as this is a clever technique to make the audience feel uncomfortable.  An example of this in the film is as a bloody pitchfork is being dragged along the floor and creates suspense.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer and why?

I perhaps would not include as much body horror within my own trailer, this is because I would be making a more psychological horror but may include a small amount as it is an effective horror feature. Another reason i feel using body horror would be a bad idea is because you must be careful when using it, so that it is used in an effective way and will not make the audience laugh. An example of this happening is in the film Basket Case (1981).

What was the best aspect or more enjoyable moment in the film, why? Can you recreate this in your own film and how?

The most enjoyable moment for me was the fight and escape of David and Judy against the people with the virus in the car was scene. It uses so many horror techniques successfully to create both suspense and the final shock where the young girl is hung by the hose. I could recreate this by using quick montage, parallel music, close ups and an enclosed creepy location.

How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context? Analyse scenes/events that reflect the time which the film was made?

The film may reflect some historical context in the fact that it involves the military and an extermination mission and this could be aimed at the wars that have occurred in recent years. This may also be incorporating the public’s modern fear of terrorism. The fact that the film involves a wide-spread virus could relate to mass disease that has occurred such as swine and bird flu. This demonstrates peoples fear of contracting a virus. This has a very similar and common theme regards to the historical context as Dawn of the Dead (2004).