Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
The Crazies - The George A. Romero Boxset
October 14th 2008 23:19
George A. Romero came to wide attention with his groundbreaking horror film, "Night of the Living Dead", considered to be one of the influential zombie movies of all time.
Romero wasn't all about the flesh-eating undead, though... his 1973 film, "The Crazies", depicts a small town brought to quarantine by the accidental release of a biological weapon called 'Trixie'. The infection either kills the victim or drives them mad - relatively tame symptoms for a horror film, especially since, in our modern cinematic world, we've been exposed to the 'Rage' virus of "28 Days Later", countless zombie infections, and ghosts that spread through the viewing of a VHS cassette.
Are we scared of a little biological weapon? Hardly - but the appeal of "The Crazies" is not in its ability to frighten us, but in the terrifying idea of a military, poorly organized, futilely trying to control a weapon that they invented, but know almost nothing about.
"The Crazies" is a terrific satire of military planning - the separate divisions of the armed forces seem to work independently of each other, exchanging no information, keeping things on a 'need-to-know' basis.
Naturally, we're familiar with this, ever since the Bush Administration decided to go on the warpath. "The Crazies" starts to feel even more relevant when we see how the soldiers start to devolve into barbarians as the lines of communication dissolve.
Romero cites problems with distribution as the reason that "The Crazies" did so poorly in the theatres but, really, the truth is more likely that it is not a good film. You'd be hard pressed to try and sympathize with any of the wooden actors, delivering their lines as if they were controlled like marionettes.
Nevertheless, "The Crazies" is a remarkable effort, a tremendous example of how socially relevant themes - in this case, fear of the military and doubt of their ability to control emergencies - come back around again. Hardly anything has changed since '73; sure, we've got the internet, cell phones and 'smart' bombs, but we're still paying for a military that doesn't seem to know the location of its own feet.
"The Crazies" is part of the George A. Romero Collection from Umbrella Entertainment, available in Australia.
I say: Definitely worth watching for Romero fans - it has a lot in common with "Night of the Living Dead" and seems to comment of the American handling of the Vietnam War.
See it for: Though the acting is uniformly terrible, it makes the whole thing lighthearted, especially when the old woman stabs the soldier...
*this image is from Final Nightmare
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I think the poor or mediocre acting is uniform across Romero's films though, he's always been lousy with actors - or in choosing them at least!
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I think, back then, he was pretty happy casting his friends and other members of his crew.
I can't fault him, though... Ken Foree in Dawn is the man...
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Romero has a good point actually about casting unknowns - but he definitely ensures that B-grade vibe with his choices!
Comment by Natalie 2
My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog