As far as remakes go, The Crazies, based on George A. Romero's cult classic from 1973, is one hell of a wild ride through America's back roads.  And Now, thanks to Lionsgate Limited, the film sees new life thanks to a Dolby Vision HDR upgrade, new nightmarish art from Attila Szarka, and five new special features made exclusively for this release.

Gripping in its account of the fierce paranoia that fences-in small town America from the rest of the world, Breck Eisner's essay is brutally shocking in all the (f)right places and, as if it were a puzzle to be pieced together for a rainy Saturday afternoon, snaps together with bone-crunching appeal. Similar in spirit to Snyder's treatment of Dawn of the Dead, another Romero remake, Eisner gives modern-day audiences a grinding shriek-fest of terrified delight.

Welcome to Ogden Marsh. It is a picturesque town in Iowa full of small town American pride; it is a place of picnics on Saturdays and a place for worship when Sunday morning rolls its lazy bones up and around. Ogden Marsh, where sunny afternoons are full of High School baseball games; where Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) calls home and knows everyone by name. When the town's drunk wonders onto the diamond, shotgun in hand, Dutton discovers the bane in his bite has nothing to do with alcohol but is more than a little contagious and, three hellish days later, finds himself low on patience, sanity, and bullets in order to deal with his town's transformation. Whatever is plaguing the good people of Ogden Marsh is beyond the understanding of Dutton, his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson), and the community and has more to do with the U.S. Government.

Tapping into the paranoia that secretly fuels American lives, Eisner and company have created a brutally honest portrayal of What-If scenarios that are downright chilling and throat-clenching intense; this is atmospheric horror at its polished finest. The Crazies, while suffering from a few hiccups and minor bumps with self-induced jumps, is quite an interesting picture of one town's descent into fear and madness, where the people that once protected it from the outside world are helpless to do anything. Once martial law is enforced solely for the town's protection, it becomes clear that the real villains of the picture are to be determined by the audience which strengthens the appeal of the movie and saves it from being heavy-handed with political intent. What is concerning about the illness that plagues Ogden Marsh is the fact that the rules of the virus established early on are being broken left and right; this virus obeys no master. This is Hell on earth, where the people you greeted on Monday with a firm handshake are now the people whose hands you fear the most. This virus won't be following an expected path and, trading imposed rules for hair-raising screams, transforms the good people of Ogden Marsh into Walking Brutality itself. For my dime, this is what 1995's Outbreak should have been; a lean production of sweaty paranoia where fear in each other is a deafening mark of sheer horrified helplessness. Writers Scott Kosar and Ray Wright with some input from Romero himself have accomplished something few remakes can ever do: they've created a film that is much, much better than its predecessor ever dreamed of being.

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital 4K | Lionsgate Limited Exclusive SteelBook

Home Video Distributor: Lionsgate
Available on Blu-ray - May 13, 2025
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Video: Dolby Vision; HDR10
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

For its 15th anniversary, this reinvention of the George Romero classic — a terrifying story of the “American Dream” gone horribly wrong — comes to 4K for the first time. In a small Midwestern town, residents turn violent when a mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers. Trapped in a town they no longer recognize and abandoned by the authorities, Sheriff Dutton (Timothy Olyphant, “Justified”) and his pregnant wife Judy (Radha Mitchell, London Has Fallen) struggle to survive in this nightmarish tale that continues to have a long-lasting impact on the horror genre.

VIDEO

To put it bluntly, this transfer kicks major ass.  Vibrant and bold colors lead the way, and very deep blacks keep this sucker in check.  The image hasn’t been drained or scrubbed of its intended look either, making the film feel like a product of its time, keeping the grit and dirtiness and age appearance intact. This transfer will please even the most skeptic of 4K collectors and fans.

AUDIO

The Dolby Atmos track is a total banger!  But, fans also get a choice between a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and the original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.  All are good, but I’m leaning toward the Dolby Atmos track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• See below

Special Features:

Fans of this feature get the following special features, making this yet another Lionsgate Limited release to grab!  In terms of bonus content, there are a ton of legacy features included on The Crazies 4K debut as well as five brand new features which are limited to the Lionsgate Limited steelbook.

• 2010 Audio Commentary with Director Breck Eisner
• The George A. Romero Template
• Makeup Mastermind: Visual Effects in Motion
• Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
• Behind the Scenes with Breck Eisner
• Paranormal Pandemics
• Rob Hall in Action
• Episodes 1 & 2 of The Crazies Motion Comic
• Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailers
• The Crazies Motion Comic Trailer

LIONSGATE LIMITED EXTRAS (4K ONLY)

• 2025 Audio Commentary with Director Breck Eisner
• Establishing Shot with Breck Eisner
• Sculpting the Horror of The Crazies
• Alternate Ending
• Storyboard to Screen: Car Wash

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 101 mins
Director: Breck Eisner
Writer: Scott Kosar; Ray Wright
Cast: Radha Mitchell; Timothy Olyphant Danielle Panabaker
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Tagline: Fear thy Neighborhood.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Do you wanna give up? You wanna sit here and die, tell me, and I will sit here and die with you."
Theatrical Distributor: Overture Films
Official Site: https://lionsgatelimited.com/products/crazies-4k-steelbook?variant=42908287172719#description
Release Date: February 26, 2010
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: May 13, 2025.
Synopsis: In a small Midwestern town, residents turn violent when a mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers.