Friday, February 26 12:00 AM ET

Trailer Review: The Crazies

By Brian Briggs follow me on Twitter and Google Buzz

This week I take a look at the trailer from latest entry into the zombie genre, The Crazies, which is actually a remake of a 1973 film by the same name. That one was directed by someone familiar with the zombie genre, George Romero.

The trailer opens with a small town Sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) getting a phone call in the middle of the night (and it's coming from inside his house!). He arrives at the scene of a house fire. Two people have been killed, and the arsonist is outside mowing his lawn (aka He's K-R-A-Z-Y!). It's just a matter of doing the paperwork, then case closed... or not!

The Sheriff and his deputy lock up the suspect. He's just standing like a statue in his cell, but not one of those beautiful human statues you see at Disney World or Fisherman's Wharf. Other citizens of the town seem to be pulling the statue routine. Could this be the prelude of a zombie attack? Informed geeks know that it is. The more you know.

"Boss, how come it's always guys like me who die in movies like this?"

The arsonist lays fallen at the bottom of his cell. Next comes the predictable "Is he dead?" scene where the undead corpse's arm shoots through the bars of the cell and scares the crap out of the cops. The prescient Sheriff says that, "We're in trouble." Policeman of the year if you ask me.

The lonely Sherriff strolls down the single street of his zombified town. A lone zombie faces him with a holster at his side. Tumbleweed rolls by. The Sheriff wins the draw and blows the zombie's head off.

After that two little girls appear, and like Will Smith in Men in Black, he puts a bullet between their eyes too. With their dying breaths they tell the Sherriff that they heard screams coming from the funeral home.

You see, with everyone coming back to life, the funeral home is hurting for business, so the funeral director tries to take matters into his own hands. Not really. Just some corpses moving about that creep out the cop.

This guy looks a little more than just "crazy."

Next, we see the silhouette of a man carrying a knife, then some short scenes of rednecks taking target practice on the walking dead. Now here's where it gets weird.

A young woman is being pushed along on a gurney by a person in a hazard suit. You'd think she'd be happy to get medical treatment, but she's not. In the quarantine room, a guy with a bloody pitchfork drags it along the floor making a loud squeaking sound and annoying everyone in the room. They yell at him to quiet down, but he goes nuts and tries to kill someone.

The sky brightens and everyone is happy except for the zombie attacking the Sheriff in a car wash. I don't think getting my car clean would be a top priority for me during a zombie attack, but maybe that's just me.

At this point the Sheriff remarks, "Why didn't we get those lumbering zombies instead of Zombie 2.0 that run?" I feel for you bud.

The trailer ends with the Sheriff scooting on his butt avoiding a runaway surgical saw. You gotta feel bad for the guy, not only does he have to put up with the zombies, but he has to battle reanimated surgical equipment.

Ending Prognostication: If this stays true to the formula of other zombie movie, everyone undies.

Fun with IMDb: With the stars of Advice from a Caterpillar and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, comes a film by the producers of The Net and Vice Squad.

Conclusion on Trailer: This trailer looks like 28 Days Later meets Farmville. The jump scenes are there, and the plot is confusing enough not to give too much away. Looks like this could be a quality zombie movie, which isn't the same as being a quality movie.

Conclusion on Movie: If you're into zombie movies (and who isn't), this one is probably worth a look.