The Crazies (1973)

THE CRAZIES is not(!) a horror movie, as it is frequently marketed because it deals with a Zombie-ish theme and is made by George A. Romero. This 70's flick is much better described as a military or action movie. And oh me oh my does it have a high body count! There's gun fights galore! Constant shooting.The plot surrounds a small town in the US that is quarantined by the US army to contain a disease that makes people "crazy", hence the title. We're following a group of city dwellers who are trying to survive and escape the army. While the characters are principally relatable, they're also not particularly deep and I felt myself not caring about them too much. This means that the suspense was, at some point about half-way through the movie, lost for me.It starts off with a rapid pace and has, for a 70's movie, some surprisingly rapid cuts. There's a lot of government officials and army folks shouting loudly at each other, and constant snare drums playing in the background. At times the cinematography could even be described as experimental. This movie has some interesting components from a historical perspective, and it might be interesting to folks who want to explore Romero's oeuvre for completeness sake... but other than that I don't necessarily recommend it.

Late at night a man goes crazy and kills his wife before setting his home on fire with both of his children still in the house. As the firetrucks race to the scene army troops are spotted entering the town. Soon the western Pennsylvanian town of Evans City is under quarantine as a highly contagious virus begins to cause the residents to exhibit strange and violent behavior. Meanwhile, the army is faced with chaos and confusion as they try to keep the virus from spreading outside of their control. Now, although I liked the premise of the movie, I must admit that I found most of it to be rather boring. The acting wasn't very good and the scenes didn't flow smoothly from one to the next. In essence, the fact that this was a low-budget production really resonates throughout. And while I typically like movies directed by George A. Romero, I have to say in all honesty that this was not one of his better works. Substandard in just about every way.

Simply put, George A. Romero is the godfather of zombie movies. His original 'Dead' trilogy (there went on to be three additional (read: optional) instalments beginning in 2005) 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968), 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978), and 'Day of the Dead' (1985) essentially created the modern zombie apocalypse template. 'The Crazies', while certainly coming from the same cocktail shaker as these movies with its mix of unthinking killers, rampant destruction, bloody violence, and a good dose of social commentary nonetheless cuts a slightly different stride to its illustrious predecessor or the subsequent carnage-ridden affairs that followed.When the inhabitants of a small town in Western Pennsylvania are exposed to a virus through their local water supply and begin turning into homicidal maniacs the army duly turn up, call martial law, and quarantine the town. We soon learn that the army knows all-too-well the extent of the hazard they are facing as the virus, known as 'Trixie', was designed by the military as an experiment in germ warfare and was accidentally released into the town when an army aircraft crashed nearby. For the alert (read: pedantic) zombie-phile, this is enough to rule the movie out of deserving the "zombie" tag as the victims are not re-animated corpses but the very alive victims of a disease with no known cure. Nevertheless, the threat the infected / zombies pose means that the soldiers have been ordered to take no chances and, as panic escalates to fever-pitch, the soldiers fail to distinguish between psychotic symptoms of the disease and justified hysterical fear for one's (uninfected) life…which in turn unceremoniously erases the line separating the soldiers from the unthinking killers they are trying to contain.As with the 'Dead' films, Romero's focus is on characters amidst the chaos and the film follows a small band of townspeople trying to escape the quarantine and the tangible threat of the military as well as the intangible threat of possible contagion from a disease they know nothing about. The cast are largely inexperienced and while the acting is competent, in parts it comes across as a bit wooden and crucially detracts somewhat from the potential pathos as the movie builds to its climax. However, for horror connoisseurs it's cool to spot Lynn Lowry, who plays Kathy, who would go on to be directed by David Cronenberg in his psycho-sexual parasite horror 'Shivers' two years later. In addition, Kathy's father in the film is played by Richard Liberty, who would go on to put in a memorable performance as Dr "Frankenstein" Logan in 'Day of the Dead' more than a decade later.In addition to some patchy-but-passable acting, the film's real Achilles heel is that it's a high budget idea trapped within the constraints of a low budget, in contrast to 'Night of the Living Dead' which was a low budget idea and worked easily within such confines. As such, many of the locations and action sequences seem to struggle and the film is lucky that it can rest on some interesting ideas and the talent of its director. However, saying this, things do seem to come together towards the end and work up to a denouement with a fair amount of pathos…it's just tempting to suggest that if Romero had made the film later in his career with more money at his disposal the film would have carried a much harder punch than it does in actuality. For Romero fans its arguably a must-see, but for the less dedicated movie-goer the 2010 remake, or even better '28 Days Later' or (in my opinion, the superior) '28 Weeks Later' may be more rewarding.

I haven't seen the remake of this. I hope it has a bit more verisimilitude (I love to sneak that word in). This is one of those films where people deliver lines a bit like Romero's zombies. There is so much pain in the situation thrust upon them, and we are to believe that our society would be as indifferent and cruel as they are presented here. Everyone is afraid of panic. Yes, panic is not a good thing, but it is traded for a group of townspeople thrust into a horror story, not understanding what is going on. Obviously, this premise rides along on the fact that there was never a contingency for what takes place and so the army and its counterparts don't have a clue how to handle things. Thank God these people aren't like this in war or we'd be goose stepping to this day. So, while it's entertaining, don't think too much. It's a caricature B movie. But that's what this director is best at.