The Crazies
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Movie Reviews of The Crazies
Movie Review: Underrated Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
One of Romero's most underrated works, it is more relevant today than ever before. The only bad part about this feature is the...ending. Otherwise, another great piece of claustrophobic horror from Romero. The DVD itself is a must for fans, espeically the great Lynn Lowry interview. Romero's commentary with Bill Lustig is also very interesting.Movie Review: The Crazies
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an instant cult classic. If you love George Romero films you will like this one.Movie Review: One Crazy Movie!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
I received this as a graduation present on May 31st, 2008 and I finally finished it last night. For a George A. Romero, it was pretty good, but some parts are really boring. A virus named Trixie has spread through a town, so the military try to quarantine the town. Most of the civilians begin to go crazy and start killing each other and the military A man even tries to rape his smokin' hot daughter! I love the gore scenes. It seemed like a grindhouse film. I'd probably recommend THE CRAZIES!!!Movie Review: Over 30 Years Old
Summary: 3 Stars
Okay, this movie is over 30 years old and it really shows. Some of it is very silly and could have been done in much less time. The editing is poor, the special effects are not special nor really effects, and so on. The acting is better than most of the rest of the movie. It might have been okay during that timeframe, but pales for anything today. Still, it is watchable and we have an upcoming paintball scenario game based off of it. :)Movie Review: Consistently Weak
Summary: 2 Stars
"The Crazies" (1973) was George Romero's attempt to get a little more low-budget mileage out of his "Night of the Living Dead" (1971) zombie-like stuff by blending it with elements from "The Andromeda Strain" (1971).
A germ warfare bug is accidentally released into the water supply of a small western Pennsylvania town named Evans City (where it was actually filmed). It turns some into placid zombie-like creatures and some into out-of-control maniacs. The Army comes in and imposes martial law and the local civilians do a good imitation of the zombies from "Night of the Living Dead".
The cast is a bunch of locals (western PA/NE Ohio) who fortunately for us all with low thresholds of pain did little acting after this project. Poor acting combines with poor editing to make it impossible to determine who among the citizens and the troops has the disease, is just stressed out, or is just trying to party hard. Romero's direction is extremely weak and he has trouble throughout keeping the cast in character.
Romero had discovered with "Night of the Living Dead" that there was serious exploitation potential in stories about the breakdown of society and this is where he really tries to focus his film. There is an underlying theme of social commentary as this was the time of serious social protests (Kent State just across the state line), distrust of the federal government, and our winding down involvement in Viet Nam. Romero was also drawing from his fascination with 1950's sci-fi themes regarding irresponsible science.
Unfortunately the best aspect of "Night of the Living Dead", its simplicity, is sacrificed as Romero has just enough resources to turn the film into an exercise in excess. There are several tangential plot points (voice recognition systems, a B-52 with a nuclear warhead, a frustrated scientist) that go nowhere but use up a lot of time getting there.
But these obvious problems are not the film's ultimate downfall. That comes from the film's lack of organization on the most fundamental level; which means it is extremely boring. No suspense is generated because there is no sense of progress or advancement of the storyline. Instead the same three basic scenes are repeated over and over until Romero is able to cobble together a feature length production. There are a handful of civilians trying to evade the Army troops, there are a handful of Army officers whining about how difficult their job is, and there are a handful of national security advisers back in Washington tossing around doom and gloom predictions. The film simply alternates between these three groups, with the segments completely interchangeable. The editor could have assembled them in any order and they would have not altered the flow of the story.
There are a couple of unexpectedly stylish scenes to watch for; the shooting of the flower child girl in the pasture, with a flock of sheep passing quietly in the foreground. And the infected woman with a broom sweeping the grass.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.