"The Crazies" director Breck Eisner is giving his remake a faithful nod to George Romero's 1973 horror film.

"More than anything, I've tried to make the movie true to the intention of Romero's original," Eisner said in an interview with SCI FI Wire. "Romero's ['Crazies'] is in the shadow of Vietnam. Our movie exists in the shadow of 9/11, the Bush presidency, invading Iraq."

The film follows the outbreak of a deadly disease called the Trixie virus, which incites madness in its victims and turns them into uncontrollable killers.

Timothy Olyphant ("Deadwood") stars as Sheriff David Dutten, and is joined by cast members Danielle Panabaker ("Shark"), Joe Anderson ("The Ruins") and Radha Mitchell ("Silent Hill").

As a teenager, Eisner recalls seeing his friend's VHS copy of the film and finding it a "bizarre" experience.

"It really stuck in my brain, the concept -- the people closest to you, your friends, your neighbors, your family—going from your most trusted companions to these rage-infected violent terrors," Eisner said. "It was a real primal fear and one that has resonated for me since that movie. I thought that concept was so strong that I was really interested in re-examining it."

With a much larger budget than Romero's $200,000, Eisner enjoyed more freedom to craft this tale.

"It allowed us to do things that he couldn't do in order to reflect the true scale of the military during a containment," Eisner said. "It was something that helped the realism and the intensity of the movie."

One key aspect of Romero's original film was the military's point of view; however, Eisner decided to axe that focus, seeing its removal as a step to creating a scarier and more disorienting experience.

"If the heroes don't know what's happening, and they are playing catch-up and trying to figure out why they are being rounded up and contained, it makes for a more terrifying experience for the audience and for the characters," he explained.

"The Crazies" opens in theaters today.

See more of Eisner's interview at SCI FI Wire.