David Dutten is sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a picture-perfect American town with happy, law-abiding citizens. But one night, one of them comes to a school baseball game with a loaded shotgun, ready to kill. Another man burns down his own house-after locking his wife and young son in a closet inside. Within days, the town has transformed into a sickening asylum; people who days ago lived quiet, unremarkable lives have now become depraved, blood-thirsty killers, hiding in the darkness with guns and knives. Sheriff Dutten tries to make sense of what's happening as the horrific, nonsensical violence escalates. Something is infecting the citizens of Ogden Marsh with insanity. Now complete anarchy reigns as one by one the townsfolk succumb to an unknown toxin and turn sadistically violent. In an effort to keep the madness contained, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won't let anyone in or out - even those uninfected. The few still sane find themselves trapped: Sheriff Dutten; his pregnant wife, Judy; Becca, an assistant at the medical center; and Russell, Dutten's deputy and right-hand man. Forced to band together, an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive. - skip ad - Genres: Suspense/Horror, Thriller and Remake Running Time: 1 hr. 41 min. Release Date: February 26th, 2010 (wide) MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence and language. Distributor: Overture Films Cast And Credits Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, Joe Anderson, Joe Reegan Directed by: Breck Eisner Produced by: George Romero, Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King, Michael Aguilar, Dean Georgaris, Rob Cowan, Brian E. Frankish Associate, Alexander W. Kogan Jr

The problem with “The Crazies”? Not crazy enough.

Your guide to the news and the nonsense of awards season. Join the discussion.

Breck Eisner’s remake of a 1973 George A. Romero creepfest — about the accidental release of a bioengineered virus (it causes insanity) near a small town — has the imprimatur of the master: Mr. Romero is executive producer of the new film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have his style or sense of humor.

The filmmakers (the tepid screenplay is by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright) seem so determined to make a serious, respectable horror movie that they have only the bare minimum of fun. The occasional out-pops-a-homicidal-maniac jolts are too well telegraphed to be very scary, and the denouement manages to be both apocalyptic and anticlimactic.

Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell grind through their performances as the married couple — he the sheriff, she the town doctor — who try to lead a small band of the uninfected across fields and Interstates to safety. (The original took place in Pennsylvania; the remake is set in Ogden Marsh, Iowa, which despite its highly unlikely name does not appear hospitable to light verse.)

They are caught between their increasingly crazed neighbors and the federal government, which comes in to quarantine the town but starts to shoot everyone in sight when things get out of hand. Maybe a better title would have been “Zombie Tea Party.”