Cheap The Crazies (DVD) (Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan) (George A. Romero) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Crazies

Not the best offering from Romero...
Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe George Romero is one of the most significant figures in the history of horror ("Night" and "Dawn" of the Dead are my two favorite horror films of all time), but I believe that Romero falls short of the glory here. It's just unfortunate that the whole "killer virus and townspeople run amuck" thing has been done so many times after this film, making it look far less impressive in retrospect. But there are other flaws to "The Crazies." For one, I believe that the concept of a group of rebel survivors escaping the carnage and madness and trying to survive on their own has been done much better, and in fact done much better by Romero himself. It may be unfair, but I found myself preferring the emotionally gripping survivalistic flair of the "Dead" series to the virus/contamination theme. Also, for a film that is fashioned like "Outbreak" or other films of the like, you would at least expect a somewhat satisfying ending. I found the "conclusion" of the film quite disappointing, and too sudden. I know Romero was trying to make a point about the hopelessness of the situation and he deliberately wanted the viewer to be left wondering if this small town would survive, but it just left me disappointed. It was especially disappointing when Romero used that apocolyptic tone and "What if"? ending so well in his "Dead" series (especially in "Dawn of the Dead"). Possibly I was upset about the ending because I simply didn't care about the characters as much as I did in "Dawn" or "Night", because Romero seemed to be at a loss if he should spend time developing characters and delving into their psychology, or to just make the film a straight thriller/survival flick. As a result, the film has many stretches of uneventful moments, which are not a good springboard to develop these characters. Furthermore, the film just isn't too involving, and can be quite uneven. On the upside though, the film single-handedly earns its two stars because, for the most part, the pacing of the film is terrific and the film CAN be exciting, and the gore is uncomprimising (it IS Romero after all!). All things considered, "The Crazies" can be seen as an unfortunate (but sometimes interesting and certainly not complete) failure. It's constant parallels with his "Dead" series makes it unfortunately play the role of "Dawn of the Dead" lite.

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More bark than bite
Talk, talk, and more talk; with some action scenes randomly inserted. I felt like I was watching C-SPAN with a bad science fiction twist. The movie delves too much in wordy technical political blunders. I wish Romero were more clever in incorporating the social satire with the action as he has done with Dawn and Night. The movie is as bland as a licking a paper plate. The real problem here was the dialogue. I felt like I had to trim fat off a piece of meat to get to the real message underneath this sea of people talking in a room. The movie felt as if it never ventured beyond the same rooms the entire time.

We hear so much about how the virus is so dangerous, yet this point was never illustrated. We do see the corruption of the army just when they break into people's homes and quarantine them and when they go into mild gunfights. That's about it and it only makes a small fraction of the entire movie. It was basically the army and some doctor switching back and forth with arguments about the virus and blah blah blah. There's too much excruciating detail delivered only in words.

Part of the brilliance in filmmaking is using visuals to convey a message in imaginative ways. And there's nothing imaginative about seeing people argue in a little room for hours. I found the arguments between the "rebels" more appealing than the army's. But it still didn't hold up for the entire film. The whole movie revolves around some black army guy arguing with some bearded scientist most of the time. The people who were on the run were secondary, even though I found them more exciting.

"The Crazies" is a movie only for Romero collectors, such as myself. Other than that, I recommend you just get Martin, Creepshow, Dawn, or Night, because this will disappoint you if you were looking for a crazy thriller or political horror film. I do give credit though for Romero's ambition to try and convey a message about Vietnam and the Cold War paranoia, no matter how dull it came out on screen and for that one scene where a guy gets shot through the head, which emphasizes the cruel nature, the characters are in.

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Confused? So am I!
This film by George Romero is a fantastically tense movie about when the water supply becomes contaminated and it affects the town that relies on the water supply.

The opening scene is quite possibly one of the most horrific I have ever seen. A brother is trying spook his sister out and his sister doesn't like it. She goes to tell mommy while the boy finds out that dad has gone mad pouring kerosene all over the house. The little girl is still trying to wake mommy up when she pulls the sheet off to find that mommy has an axe in her neck! Soon enough dad has set the house on fire and is outside while the rest of his family are left to burn.

The scenes with governmental agencies are complicated. Nobody understands anything, everybody is at each others throats and the main line which illustrates this all is when one doctor incensed by the lack of control he is allowed on this is " I cannot believe how shoddy this has been organized "

The mayhem in this movie doesn't let up. What with priests setting themselves on fire and a granny stabbing an army soldier with a knitting needle ( genuinely frightening and perhaps one of the most surprising scenes of all )

The end will definitely leave you confused but I won't say too much more. I've given enough

Incidentally I'm surprised this flopped at the box office. It really is a good intelligent horror movie. But then I guess when people think of horror movies they tend to think of those big dumb Hollywood horror movies with absolutely no shock value whatsoever ( " it's all gore they want " ). Yes this film is graphic in places but is done so with more thought and precise control even when it's method is in chaos. And also I can't believe this is the same director who gave us the atrocious Creepshow 1 & 2! What was Georgie thinking?