The Crazies

Plot synopsis:
In the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, local sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is enjoying a baseball game when it is interrupted by a local resident (known as the town drunk) Rory Hamill, who enters the outfield with a shotgun. David attempts to dissuade Rory, but is forced to kill him when he raises his weapon. David and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), the community doctor, begin to notice other town residents exhibiting bizarre behavior, including listlessness and repetitive speech. The next night, a local farmer Judy had seen just that morning for his behavior locks his wife and son inside their house and burns it down.
Learning of a pilot's body found in a swamp, David and his deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) investigate it. They discover a military aircraft that crashed into the river a few days before. Suspecting a link between the contaminated water to the residents' odd behavior, David attempts to have the town's water supply shut off, but is denied.
Soon after, all communication services are lost in town and David realizes they are in trouble. He begs his wife to leave and go to her parents' house, but she refuses. Soon after, soldiers arrive to take all residents to quarantine at the high school. Everyone is examined for symptoms of infection. Judy does not pass the examination and is separated from David. David escapes evacuation and heads back to his office, encountering Russell. The two head for the school to free Judy. At the school, the infected townspeople breach the perimeter, and the military personnel evacuate, abandoning the civilians. Judy wakes up strapped to a gurney, and helplessly watches as a crazed school director kills quarantined people one by one. David and Russell save her in time, and also find Becca (Danielle Panabaker), a hospital assistant.
Unable to find a working vehicle, the four make their way out of town on foot. They encounter Becca's boyfriend, Scotty, at his farm. Soldiers raid the farm, shoot Scotty and his mother, and burn the bodies. They learn that the soldiers have been ordered to shoot all civilians. The group repair an older patrol car in David's garage, and are ambushed by the infected family of Rory. After a struggle, Russell furiously shoots the infected multiple times. This greatly disturbs Judy, who argues with David about Russell's state of mind. On the road, they are spotted by an attack helicopter and drive into a car wash for cover. The workers attack the car and drag Becca out with a wrapped hose, breaking her neck. When the rest of the group leaves the car to help her, the helicopter destroys the car.
Russell disables a passing government car with a police spike strip. The driver reveals the cargo plane contained "Trixie," a "Rhabdoviridae prototype" biological weapon. It was en route to Texas to be destroyed when the plane crashed. Enraged, Russell shoots the driver and threatens Judy and David. When confronted about his behavior, Russell realizes he is infected and, after being disarmed, begs to go on with Judy and David. At a roadblock, Russel volunteers to distract the soldiers so that Judy and David can sneak past. He calls out the soldiers on their actions and gets killed.
David and Judy arrive at a truck stop to search for a vehicle, discovering that the military have also executed those who were evacuated. Fending off three infected, they escape in a semi-truck. As they drive away, a massive explosion destroys Ogden Marsh and causes a shock wave that flips over their vehicle. As the couple walk towards Cedar Rapids, a view from a military satellite highlights first the couple, then the city, and the words "Initiate containment protocol" appear, signifying a new containment attempt.
In the credits, Bruce Aune, a real newscaster from KCRG-TV 9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa reports that an explosion originating from the Dakon Pendrill chemical plant started a massive fire in Ogden Marsh. He says a perimeter has been set and civilians are not being allowed into the area. A Trixie-infected individual appears on camera just before the signal is lost.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, grindhouse film, murder, cult, violence, insanity, absurd, psychedelic, revenge

Review:
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.
Romero's zombie classics 'Night Of The Living Dead' and 'Dawn Of The Dead' are two of the best horror movies ever made, but they really cast a huge shadow over his career.
Will MacMillan (David) and Lane Carroll (Judy) aren't familiar to me, and neither is Lloyd Hollar who plays the Colonel in charge of the quarantine (he's very good), but cult fave Lynn Lowry ('Shivers') plays space case Kathy, her Dad (Richard Liberty) will be recognized by anybody who has seen 'Day Of The Dead', and David's 'Nam buddy Clank (Harold Wayne Jones) went on to appear in Romero's 'Knightriders'.
The commentary track by Romero and William 'Maniac' Lustig is also highly recommended as it offers lots of insights into the highs and lows of low budget film making..
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 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).
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.
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.
Romero's 'Dead' movies have all been quite enjoyable and knowing before hand that this film was about a virus making people go nuts so i thought this wouldn't be a waste of my time.
I am a big fan of horror movies and some of Romero's work, but the Crazies is a real low point in his career.
Actually "The Crazies" has more in common with an Ed Wood production--the hysterical, awful acting; the cardboard, dated characters (one character keeps using the word "MAN" before and after every sentence--he's a Vietnam vet, you see); horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound effects (the spring peeper frogs actually drown out the dialogue in many scenes); over-the-top direction; and ketchup for blood (well, it was filmed in Pittsburgh--maybe Romero had a deal with Heinz).
'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.
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 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.
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).
But to do so they'll have to evade the military and the crazies.George Romero's first really good movie after Night of the Living Dead is this engrossing low-budget thriller with some creepy moments and surprises.
This is one of those films where people deliver lines a bit like Romero's zombies.
In a sense this is almost like an un-official 'living-dead' picture, only this time Romero shows the whole thing from start to finish, how it starts, how it spreads, how the people start to change, and how a group of survivors try to stay on the run.
Confusion, panic, desperation, hopelessness: George Romero's The Crazies not only employs the same dynamic as his 1979 classic Dawn of the Dead, but also has a similar style and pacing, making it an interesting companion piece to the director's long running zombie series.
Technically, the film might lack the polish of Romero's later work (the editing, in particular, ain't that great), and it is perhaps a bit too talkative at times, but for fans of the Pittsburgh auteur, it should still be considered a 'must-see' movie.As in Dawn of the Dead, society is facing collapse in the wake of a deadly epidemic that has been caused by the accidental release of a biological weapon; however in this film, the result of the contagion is not a plague of flesh-eating corpses, but rather a madness that can cause victims to commit sudden acts of violence.Whilst the army struggles to cover up their mistake and prevent further contamination, and a lone scientist (Dawn of the Dead's Richard France) attempts to formulate a vaccine, two firefighters (Will MacMillan and Harold Wayne Jones) try to lead a small group of people (including Day of the Dead's Richard Liberty and cult actress Lynn Lowry) to safety, with the biggest threat coming from the ominous, trigger-happy, HazMat-suited soldiers roaming the countryside.Once again Romero cleverly combines political commentary with visceral action, delivering an intelligent horror that not only provides excitement, tension, splatter, and a delightfully downbeat ending, but also something for the mind to chew over: although seeing a seemingly meek, old woman stabbing a soldier to death with her knitting needles is undeniably shocking, the real horror comes from the distinct possibility of such a situation occurring, and the extreme procedures implemented by the government following the outbreak, which include having a bomber with a nuclear payload circling the area in preparation for the worst eventuality (interestingly, the same 'last resort' was used to contain the zombie outbreak in the excellent 1985 comedy/horror Return of the Living Dead, a film inextricably linked to Romero's work).7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
I think the best parts of the movie was the manuveuring of the army to contain the virus as opposed to the people acting crazy.
The government has created a bioweapon called Trixie that causes its victims to either die instantly or become homicidal; this weapons has ended up in the Evans City (home to the opening graveyard of Night) drinking water.Also, the film tries to see things from the side of the individual and the government that struggles to contain the epidemic that it has accidentally started.
The full fear and chaos of Vietnam and Watergate are on display here; the military men and women may be individuals, but en masse they are a frightful and faceless force that are ordered to kill American citizens — on American soil — on sight, simply because they have become infected.The Crazies begins by subverting one of the central themes of Night of the Living Dead.
Colonel Peckem is ordered to contain the virus while Dr. Watts is brought in an attempt to cure the virus, which doesn't seem like a certainty, what with nuclear bombers in flight to nuke the town and soldiers that shoot anyone that tries to escape.Read more at http://bit.ly/2io4Rha. 70's military flick—not a horror movie.
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.
The Crazies was the film where director George Romero returned to similar territory that he had explored in his earlier cult classic Night of the Living Dead (1968).
By having the relentless killers people infected by a virus, the film makes the horror just that little bit more plausible.
This was one of the few Romero films I hadn't seen before, and after seeing it I have no idea why I waited so long!This very low budget movie about a town infected with a virus via its water supply has the classic Romero feel, in that the film focuses far more on the people affected than the situation at hand.
A government plane carrying a biological warfare virus suddenly crashes near a small Pennsylvania town resulting in a poisoned water supply.When the residents embark on a chaotic,murderous rampage,the government send in the army,unannounced,to quarantine the town and resolve the anarchy.A small war breaks out when the citizens find themselves caught between a lethal disease,their crazed neighbors and an occupying army."The Crazies" is a solid horror/action film which is scary at times and rather gory.The highlight of the film is the scene where an old lady brutally stabs a soldier with a knitting needle.The movie is indeed slow at times,but the atmosphere of fear and panic is well executed and the script is realistic.All in all "The Crazies" is definitely a movie worth seeking out.Highly recommended..
Romero's tale of a small Pennsylvania town that comes under siege from the military after a plane crash leaks a chemical that is turning people crazy.
A group of people decide to not give in and try to survive on their own but soon they're battling more than just the government.Romero's THE CRAZIES is a film that is often called a zombie movie but it's certainly not that.
Much like we'd eventually see in Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, this film certainly has a political message to discuss and in all honesty that takes up the majority of the running time.THE CRAZIES isn't a bad movie but at the same time there are enough flaws that keep it from being a good one.
It seems that some people are starting to praise Romero's lesser known works and try to build them up as some sort of lost masterpieces but I really don't think this film fits into that.
This early film of George Romero is about a small town in Pennsylvania that is infected by a virus created by the U.S. Army.
Things go from bad to worse as some members in the group exhibit signs of the virus and the film follows on from there.This was Romero's third film, and he made it before his first film, Night of the Living Dead, was to make him a horror legend.
In 1968 George Romero created a new kind of zombie with Night of the Living Dead...one that would revolutionize the concept of the walking dead and influence many film makers in the coming ages of horror.
The army arrives in town to contain the virus but its already infected some people...and things go barreling out of control.OK Romero film--it was his first horror film after "Night of the Living Dead".
Like most Romero films The Crazies makes a political statement, and one that has retained a lot of applicability.The alternation of tense action sequences with "behind-the-scenes" views of the command and and science team are very effective.
For the first time out of any Romero film, I actually cared about these characters, which makes the movie more tragic when it comes to the ending.
The Crazies is a pretty good movie in its own right, but it suffers from being a little too similar to George Romero's first movie, Night of the Living Dead.
Romero's subsequent movies failed to recapture the immediacy that made Night of the Living Dead so effective, and he didn't really come into his own as a director until Martin.
Romero learned from these early films and put that knowledge to good use on the further Dead movies.
THE CRAZIES has a very good premise about a small middle American town suffering from a bio-weapon virus outbreak but suffers heavily from early 70`s post `Nam overstatement - " Hey man ain`t soldiers and governments such pigs ?
Not only that but the script gives us no one to root for, there`s a main character of course but he up ends killing so many " Pigs " I failed to relate to him in any way , shape or form.And the other problem is the film`s documentary style direction , which didn`t strike me as an artistic decision on the part of Romero , but more to do with the film obviously being made on a shoestring budget which means - like all of Romero`s movies - the sound mix is truly abysmal.Still THE CRAZIES is more thought provoking than the mega budget bore OUTBREAK.
As the U.S. government and military step in to investigate, a combination of their efforts and the effects of the virus ignite pandemonium.One of George Romero's lesser-praised but entirely worthwhile films, "The Crazies" is equal parts B-movie exploitation and skilled paranoid thriller.
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.
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.
George Romero directs a wonderful low budget film about a virus that breaks out in a town after a military plane crashes in the mountains and the virus leaks down in through the water and which drives anyone it comes in contact with to complete madness or mindless drivel.
Romero's "The Crazies" starts in the small town of Evan City where we see a creepy scene in which a man goes insane and kills his entire family.
The film follows a group of people who must evade the highly contagious virus and the even more dangerous US military, who are called in to quarentine the town.
Recommended for those wanting to see what Romero accomplished in-between "NOTLD" and "Dawn of the Dead" or any horror fan searching for a movie with an anti-military message!.
The 'Crazies' act like the zombies in other Romero films.
While not nearly as good as Romero's "Dead" films, The Crazies is still worth checking out.
The threat of the virus in something as simple as water adds to the realism and horror for the group attempting to escape (and drinking the water along the way!).It's a typical Romero film (even though it is only his second movie made!).
"We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore!" - Howard Beale ("Network")This is a review of George Romero's "The Crazies", a horror film released in 1973, and 2010's "The Crazies", a remake directed by Breck Eisner, son of media mogul Michael Eisner.The better of the two, Romero's film sees the US military accidentally releasing a biological weapon into a small town's water supply.
Much violence ensues.Romero's film is shapeless, overlong, lacking in tension towards its final act and nowhere as good as his zombie movies.
George Romero is probably most famous for his 1978 film 'Dawn of the Dead' which was the second in a series of zombie movies which each reflected society at the time.
Luckily a small number of people are escaping the epidemic, but along the way they lose support from everyone, including the military, which was responsible for engineering the virus in the first place.The Crazies is exciting, non-stop suspense, and unlike horror movies made today, in this movie you actually get attached to the characters and want them to escape the terror, it definitely keeps you watching 'till the end.
Though the film is Romero's personal favorite, in my opinion it's a very good movie, but it's not his best.
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 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.