Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

gavin6942 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.

Leofwine_draca 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.

deacon_blues-3 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!

Roman James Hoffman 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.