Mark Cole here – where are you?

Color me shocked, but the remake ::::shiver::::  of THE CRAZIES is opening February 26th, 2010 and I’m not angry, sad, pissed off or otherwise disgruntled. I’m happy. I’m excited, actually.

Now, I’m a big CRAZIES fan. ORIGINAL Crazies. We’re talking George Romero POP BANG! However, this new CRAZIES promises to give us a bit more story, better acting, and more of what we want to see in horror – more scares. Don’t get me wrong, I can see through the thin veneer that covers the film right through to the 28 DAYS LATER that lurks below the surface ready to piss me directly off. It’s there and I know I will see it pop up somewhere at the 20 minute mark and silently curse into my popcorn and squint like Clint before relaxing my shoulders and trying to get back into the flow of the film. However, I think I’m still all in on this.

28 WEEKS LATER, [REC] and DIARY OF THE DEAD stomped all over us in 2007, so it’s been a long while since a proper plague has hit our screens.  I need a good fix of disease, destruction and the dead!

Now, a quick check of the line up.

Director Breck Eisner scares me a bit. He was the Producer on A SOUND OF THUNDER, directed Sahara in 2005, kit-bashed some TV, then popped up for this film, FLASH GORDON (2012) and the rumor mill has him slated for another remake, THE BROOD. (How dare they!)

Timothy Olyphant helps me relax into “OK” again, however. He rocks DEADWOOD with a passion. He has many other rolls under his belt and makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

Lastly, Radha Mitchell ~~purrrr~~ and her role in PITCH BLACK – even though it was ages back – makes me nod and prepare to buy my tickets.  She made SILENT HILL work as well and that wasn’t easy. And, she was the most lively actor in SURROGATES as well – alive among the wax figures on the screen.

So…”if anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together!”

Waste more time.

~Mark Cole~

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