The Crazies

Very cheaply made film by Director George Romero about a virus, known as Trixie, that has somehow leaked out in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. The military quickly comes, assesses the situation, and then implements martial law. This is a very thought-provoking film and has some clever dialog and direction here and there. The biggest problems arise with Romero's virtually absent budget. We have a cast of amateurs, some moved on to star in other films particularly by Romero. Richard Liberty as Frankenstein in Day of the Dead being the most noteworthy. Despite not having any star power, the cast for the most part does a decent job notwithstanding. But the settings, although very "realistic," just don't create a real sense of fear for me or believability. I wonder what this film might have been with a budget double the size. If you can get past the minuscule budget, you will find an interesting film here. A film I think that has some real issues at hand even now. The things Romero does do well is create suspense based on the feelings of time being an enemy and make some scathing social commentary on the nature of war, science in war, and apocalyptic threads concerning the way rules are all thrown out when faced with doomsday.

After the success of his classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), horror master George Romero followed up with this low-budget thriller.

Airplane crashes outside of a small Pennsylvania town and unleashes a bio chemical substance that turns the locals into murderous psychotics. The government steps in, but only makes things worse... far worse.

George Romero's films have long been known for their violence, disturbing nature, and social commentary and this early film is no exception. The Crazies has exciting action wrapped all in a thought-provoking and unsettlingly believable story. There's plenty of moments of gore and a number of scenes that are quite horrific (burning preacher anyone?). Romero's direction is nicely done, providing tense atmosphere and using the rural locations of Pennyslvania well.

Cast-wise some of the performances of this film seem a bit forced, but the performers do manage to hold it together. Harold Wayne Jones, Will MacMillian, and Lloyd Hollar are the best stand-outs.

While The Crazies is often forgotten among the horror films of the 70's, it's a good film from a great director. A must for Romero fans.

*** out of ****

A plane crashes near Pittsburgh carrying a bacteriological weapon called "Trixie". It gets into a nearby town's water supply causing it's citizen to go crazy, some of them homicidal maniacs. Some of the town's residents try to escape through a cordon around the town set up by the Army and shooting between the residents and soldiers (who go around wearing white contamination suits) and blood spurts ensue. That pretty much sums up the plot.

There's really no gore in this Romero film, but we do see plenty of gun battles that look cheap and amateurish. The only memorable character is Dr. Watts, played by Richard France, who's overacting is so bad that I actually liked his time on the screen. You can see he's trying real hard.

The Blue Underground anamorphic DVD looks nice and it contains a short interview with co-star Lynn Lowry who explains some of her experiences on the film as well as her failed film career. Also a decent commentary track by George Romero who wishes he could have done more with it if he had a bigger budget.

As long as one doesn't compare it to Romero's other films like the DEAD trilogy or MARTIN (1977), then it's better than most 70s low budget efforts in that cheap, charming way. I think it's worth a look.

6 out of 10

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Like Romero's "Day of the Dead," this is another marathon of carnage and excess talk, filled with scattered themes (martial law, role of the military, bureaucracy, disease, etc.). It's high-concept stuff, granted, but the budget is low and the script is unfocused. Like the attorney general's definition of "terrorism," the effects of the virus in "The Crazies" is just as vague (abnormal behavior that varies from person to person), but the unpredictability gets tedious after a while. The reason David Cronenberg's similarly-themed "Shivers" worked so well is because the parasites had a specific function (to replace a dead organ) and side-effect (they transform people into sex maniacs), and were confined to one specific location (an apartment complex). "The Crazies" is ambitious, but the unengaging performances and heavy-handed symbolism (tattered American flags, toy soldiers stepped on by real soldiers) renders it a mediocre oddity on Romero's resume.

5/10

George Romero's legend as a genre filmmaker is secure; his repertoire is less sure, as his movies can be hit or miss. I admit I started watching 'The crazies' with expectations of something different than what we actually get. However, while the narrative starts slowly, it nonetheless ends up being duly engaging. What begins as a disordered effort to contain an outbreak gradually spirals out into a deepening crisis, and the spotlight on a handful of recalcitrant townspeople humanizes the course of events and a strong overarching theme of distrust in the military. The premise is disquieting, the story as it transpires is often unsettling, and in the midst of all the chaos, what scenes of violence we get are acutely jarring. The sense of horror here is broadly more thematic and conceptual than concrete, but even at that, this is a reasonably worthwhile classic.

The detail in the production design is somewhat impressive considering especially that this was only Romero's fourth film, a few short years after 'Night of the living dead.' The vehicles, props, and costume design presumably ate a fair portion of the budget, joined in that spread by special effects including blood. In general there's not much to speak of in terms of dialogue or characters, but the scene writing is pretty swell. And though never wholly captivating, or engaging to the extent we'd hope, the overall narrative is fairly solid.

Moments that could be emphasized with gravity or emotional weight are passed over with the same detached observer's eye that otherwise captures the unfolding events. With this in mind, the assembled cast get to explore their parts mostly only in instances of worsening infection - but they all inhabit their roles well to tell the story. And this rather summarizes 'The crazies' as a whole: the storytelling and film-making are fine, demonstrating Romero's practiced hand in the genre - and that's about it. Nothing about the movie is bad, but nor is anything exceptional to the point of demanding praise. It's modestly gripping, but not necessarily satisfying; entertaining, but not outright stimulating.

One shouldn't necessarily go out of their way to find this, but it's sufficiently deserving of consideration as to be worth watching if you come across it. As a horror film, and as a George Romero picture, 'The crazies' isn't the most essential slice of cinema, but it's a good time all the same.

Though as a lifelong resident of the greater Pittsburgh area, the idea of anything noteworthy coming out of Evans City, like a classic movie, is still a laugh.