Review of The Crazies (1973) by Richard R — 09 Jun 2009

Early and perennially overlooked frightener from horror film maestro Romero, once again working within the periphery of the genre he himself created. He extends his own 'zombie' template by this time creating a virus which spreads through a town's water supply causing the affected to do dastardly and inhuman things such as random homicides, even to the ones they love/used to love.

Thus, this brain-altering disease works in a similar way to the 'zombie' virus which Romero had introduced us to with the downbeat classic 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968); which was of course the start of the 'zombie' genre where people who were once human beings become 'dead' inhuman beings with a desire to feed on the flesh of the 'living'.

This causes statewide hysteria and the government's top scientists and military personnel are sent to bring 'order' to the town. When things begin to spiral out of control even further, it is then up to a few good honourable men to do what they can from their various positions of power (and indeed powerlessness) to limit the human collateral of a virus whose elements threaten to bring about the beginning of an apocalypse.

The Crazies, like much of Romero's work, is not a comfortable watch simply because of the truth in the comments on how evil humans can be to one another when placed in desperate, life-threatening situations.

Now let's get down to business. The Crazies has influenced countless films in its genre, particularly those that involve human viral infections that spread quickly. I'm talking here about 'Outbreak' (1995, Wolfgang Petersen), '28 Days Later' (2001, Danny Boyle), Right At Your Door (2006, Chris Gorak) and, hence '28 Weeks Later' (2007, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo).

They all deal with the human impact of such outbreaks, human reactions to it and what actions are taken by the government. The audience is asked what they would do if it were them: who would you trust? What steps would you take to protect yourself and your loved ones? What are your survival skills like when faced with extinction? Practically all of George A.

Romero's films deal with these issues and it is a credit to him that he has never swayed from his mission. He remains one of my top ten directors for being brave, speaking his mind and producing a body of work which challenges the very basis of our existence, exposing its fragility and playing on our natural mistrust of our peers.