One of the Best Horror Remakes Ever Made is Finally Free to Stream
I kind of miss horror remakes. I know, I know. They weren’t often great; broadly, they were indicative of a pretty dismal few years of aggressive conservatorship by financers and studios. Why bankroll a new idea when one can make their money back, by rehashing something older? Remakes weren’t all terrible, however. The 1980s saw classics like The Thing and The Fly, while the early aughts got The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Wax (a classic, and I’ll die to defend that). Now one of the most surprisingly high-quality remakes of the era is finally free to stream.
Everyone remembers Kirby Reed’s (Hayden Panettiere) famous Ghostface call in Scream 4 where she’s asked to name a horror remake. Before Ghostface can finish the question, she lists off a staggering 15 remakes, which barely scratches the surface of how many classic titles were remade between 2000 and 2011. Kirby failed to mention one of the best horror remakes: the 2010 The Crazies, an update on the unsung George A. Romero classic from 1973. Now, you can catch the critically acclaimed remake streaming for free.
Per Tubi: A small town becomes a massive, hysteria-filled crime scene when, one by one, neighbors, friends, and family are possessed by homicidal behaviors.
Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell star in The Crazies, and original director George A. Romero served as an executive producer. Breck Eisner’s remake hit all the expected beats, though he regularly updates the more distinctly 1970s elements. The Crazies is lean, mean, and earnestly pretty intense. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film is one of the best-reviewed horror remakes with a consensus that reads, “Tense, nicely shot, and uncommonly intelligent, The Crazies is a horror remake that, unusually, works.”
The Crazies made a modest splash when it landed in 2010, though as horror remakes grew increasingly unpopular, it’s been lost to time. Better still, Romero’s original is streaming free on Tubi, so you can catch both and compare them. Both yield their own merits, though in some key ways (sorry, Romero), Eisner’s update is the definitive take on a town gone, well, crazy. Still, both demonstrate how, at its best, an original and remake can exist in harmony, with both serving to augment the other rather than reducing the impact of either. Crazy, right?
What do you think? Any plans to catch The Crazies streaming? What else is worth catching on Tubi? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Categorized:News
