The military attempts to contain a man-made combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.This project began life with Paul McCollough, who authored a screenplay entitled The Mad People. The script dealt with a military bioweapon that was accidentally released into a small town, with the military subsequently trying to cover up the incident and the townspeople revolting. Romero revealed that the military subplot was only featured in the first act of the script, and the rest of the film focused on the survivors and their attempts to cope with what was happening. The director called McCollough's script "very existential and heady".The screenplay was read by Lee Hessel, a producer who owned Cambist Films (best known for 1960s sexploitation films) and with whom Romero had previously worked on "There's Always Vanilla" (1971). Hessel expressed interest in it and offered to finance it as Romero's next film, but only if the director would be willing to rewrite McCollough's screenplay to focus on what Hessel considered the most interesting ingredient of the story, namely the military takeover of the town, which occurred in the first 10 to 20 pages.This is the first film from Romero with a "real" budget of $270,000 and the first time he employed a cinematographer other than himself (Bill Hinzman, best known as the first zombie in "Night of the Living Dead").In retrospect, the best casting decision was Lynn Lowry. At this point, she had made "I Drink Your Blood" (1970) and Oliver Stone's "Sugar Cookies" (1973), more or less getting discovered by a young Lloyd Kaufman. She would go on to become a horror icon, and is part of the reason "The Crazies" is better remembered today than the other Romero films of the 1970s. Co-star Will McMillan was fairly new, having just wrapped on the forgotten "White Rat" (1972). Today, horror fans may recognize him from "Christmas Evil" (1980).some of the film anticipates both "Dawn" and "Day", such as the group dynamics and the questionable, less-than-heroic portrayal of the military. We also get an early appearance from Michael Gornick, who would be a regular Romero team member going into the 1980s. And music from Bruce Roberts, who would go on to be a major writer of disco songs; this was his first of many film credits. Richard Liberty would return in "Day".Arrow Films Blu-ray full of interviews with the likes of Lynn Lowry (covering her entire early career), and an audio commentary by Travis Crawford. The commentary is delivered so fast, you get enough factoids for three commentary tracks. Romero historian Lawrence DeVincentz takes us on a guided tour of Evans City, Pennsylvania. There is an audio interview with producer Lee Hessel (who seems somewhat incoherent) and behind-the-scenes footage with optional commentary by Lawrence DeVincentz. Oh, and that 4K scan? Holy smokes! I had no idea the film could look this good.

Following in the wake of his pretentious and boring SEASON OF THE WITCH, THE CRAZIES finds director George Romero in familiar territory with this story of a town's folk turned incurably insane through the intervention of a chemical weapon transferred through the town's water supply - a story which has minor conspiracy-theory implications which firmly sets it in the paranoid world of '70s cinema. Right from the arresting opening, in which a father attempts to murder his entire family, Romero's fast-paced movie never lets up, leading us from one scene of bloodshed and chaos to the next with little time to think or breathe. Once again, as with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DADand his following movies, Romero's low budget adds to the gritty realism of the film which makes it a cut above the rest - indeed I feel this is much stronger, and far more affecting stuff than the likes of OUTBREAK and other "disease of the week" thrillers of the '90s.Despite a longer-than-average running time, THE CRAZIES never becomes boring or tired - instead it keeps you gripped throughout until the predictably downbeat conclusion. The film expertly weaves two plot strands - the efforts of a small group of people to survive, and the efforts of the people in charge to contain the outbreak - together into one satisfying whole and the themes and storyline are often impressive. I especially like the way in which the intervention of the soldiers in contamination suits eventually becomes even more dangerous for our survivors than the disease itself, and Romero dots the film with memorable disturbing images - my 'favourite' being when a vicar dowses himself in petrol and burns himself kneeling in front of his church - so that it can easily be classed as a horror film as well as a sci-fi-style thriller.As well as this, THE CRAZIES has a ton of shoot-outs and gun battles to make it watchable for the action-orientated crowd too. The highlight is a tense scene in which a crazed man, Clank, takes on a pack of soldiers in the woods. The film recalls NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in scenes of the soldiers roaming through the countryside, gunning down those that are infected, and the madness back at the army's base in town - with various parties ranting at each other - is a subject Romero returned to with the opening scenes of DAWN OF THE DEAD. The tension is racked up as the film progresses, as our party of survivors who hope to escape gradually dwindles and their chances are repeatedly dashed.The acting is especially strong from the unknown cast, with female lead Lane Carroll particularly affecting as the pregnant mother caught up in the chaos and trying only to escape with her husband. The husband, played by John Saxon-lookalike Will MacMillan, is also a strong and this time heroic character who you end up rooting for. Also memorable are Harold Wayne Jones as 'Clank', the friend who ends up turning crazy himself in memorable style, whilst the various colonels and doctors involved also have strong roles. Fans of Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD may spot Richard Liberty (the Doc) in this film as a family man turned insane, who ends up desiring his beautiful elfin daughter Kathy (Lynn Lowry, who plays Kathy, is tragic and disturbing at the same time). Regular Romero collaborator Bill Hinzman is also in there somewhere too, although I didn't spot him.THE CRAZIES is a strong piece of adult film making which expertly achieves the atmosphere of confusion and chaos that it sets out to put across - a world in which the character's lives are turned upside down and their existence becomes a brutal and often bloody struggle for survival against the overwhelming odds of the US army. Despite it's pessimism and bleakness, this is an entertaining and gripping movie to watch and another feather in the hat for Romero.

Poorly acted, poorly filmed, no production value, and very, very, very BORING! I've definitely had my fill of people running around in whites and gas masks for another millennium! Nothing actually happens in this film! It's all just a bunch of bureaucrats sitting around at a command post and talking about things happening elsewhere!Plot: A guy with "brains" and only one eyebrow is caught in an epidemic of insanity, which mainly causes a bunch of non-paid extras to lolly-gag around trying to decide whether they are drunk or just happy to be part of a movie. The film is a bunch of really bad actors following a really bad script while being filmed as cheaply as possible.Some relevant observations:Antibiotics are not prescribed to treat viruses!People do not always hit someone every time they fire a weapon!Cheap sets and fx are not a virtue!People have no peripheral vision while wearing a gas mask!While they had the chance, the producers of this film would have served humanity better by dropping a real nuclear bomb on Pittsburg, Pa.!This is one of the worst films I have ever watched from beginning to end.The only reason I watched it all was because I thought something interesting might actually happen before it ended; boy was I wrong!George Romero is not a genius, he's a one-hit-wonder!Even "Dawn" was better as a remake. Only "Night" was better in the original.This film is hard to find for a good reason—it stinks! If you haven't been able to watch it, be thankful for the wisdom and kindness of divine providence!

The Crazies (1973)A fairly creaky but still chilling movie, and a cult classic, with an original big-government bad-army premise that must have been frighteningly real at the time: a germ warfare mishap has infected a town and the army has moved in to quarantine the entire area. And kill or let die anyone not cooperating.The powerlessness of the individual against an army determined to be heartless (out of necessity) is a theme that worked then as well as now. But if there is some sympathy for the individual doctors and army personnel, since they are doing what needs to be done to prevent further outbreak, you can only feel growing anger that this kind of situation could actually happen. If bio-weapons exist, it seems eventually one will be released by mistake, and then what? Will it be like the Japanese nuke plant after a tsunami, where evacuations and appropriations are "required" in the name of national security. And is the solution to bio warfare the dropping of an atomic bomb? Maybe.That's at the core of this film. There is of course a couple at the center of the struggle to evade the authorities and survive. And infighting, questions of who to trust, how to figure out who is infected (going back to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," of course), and fear of infection itself pepper the film with drama and sometimes incredulity. There is also the hope of finding someone immune to the disease, which turns out to be slim, especially when the real cures get obscured by events.All of this would work better with better acting. Director George Romero got away with some raw and imperfect acting in his very original "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968, but that was partly because everyone was either panicked or behaving like a zombie (there were, for sure, a couple great leads in that one). Here, though, most people are ordinary folk, and between their clunky acting and the even more clunky filming (in raw color), it just smells too much of a throw-together affair. Too bad, because the premise is terrific. There are other movies that push this kind of idea, by the way, and push it better, the most famous probably being "The Andromeda Strain" from 1971. However, if this kind of rough-edged production doesn't bother you, I think you have a kind of low-brow high-brow classic, appealing to all kinds of sentiments.