Along with all the other horror films I watched over the last few weeks, I revisited George A. Romero’s ‘The Crazies’ and its recent remake. Little seen when it was originally released, – as evidenced by the nonplussed looks I received when I dressed as one of the soldiers to a Halloween party, tsk, kids these days, eh? – ‘The Crazies’ has become something of a [overused buzzword alert] cult classic. Centering on the effects an accidentally released bio-weapon has on a towns populace, it’s something of a low-budget gem.
After a farmer kills his wife and burns down his own home, the local volunteer firemen have little time to wonder what provoked his homicidal rage before the military arrive and begin to quarantine the population. Soon it becomes apparent that this is no mere disease epidemic but a terrifying weapon of biological warfare that drives anyone exposed to insanity. Unaware of the full extent of what is going on, two of the firemen and a nurse attempt to evade capture by the military.
Now, it’s not up there with ‘Night…’, ‘Dawn…’, or ‘Day of the Dead’ but this is a great example of how to do high-concept on a low budget and it shares many of the thematic traits of Romero’s original zombie outbreak trilogy. Much like ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ (which are essentially modern updates of the ‘Crazies’ central premise), the ‘infected’ are to be treated in much the same way as zombies. Either you outrun them or you kill them.
What makes the infected of the ‘Crazies’ so interesting, however, is that there is even more pathos to be had than yer average zombie killathon. True, we often see opportunities for it in some zombie films [SPOILERS AHOY!]; Johnny’s final appearance – leading an army of ghoulish pals – to a terrified Barbara in the original ‘Night…’, when Peter kills Roger after Roger finally succumbs to his wounds in ‘Dawn…’, the [badly mishandled to the point of being laughable, IMHO] ‘zombie birth’ malarkey in the ‘Dawn…’ remake. Which is a shame as Matt Frewer’s character’s final moments were handled with far more skill. And most recently, there is the moving scene (among a host of such) in AMC TVs fantastic ‘The Walking Dead’ where a survivor sees his reanimated wife through the telescopic sights of a rifle.[/SPOILERS]
The infected in ‘The Crazies’, however, are not shambling – often decomposing – emotionless ghouls. They can communicate and show emotion. Although the original ‘The Crazies’ is not a towering example of masterful dialogue or seemingly effortless method acting, it does have it’s moments. Some aren’t so hot, Clank’s (Harold Wayne Jones) deterioration isn’t all that convincing, but when infected teenager Kathie (Lynn Lowry) is surrounded by NBC suit clad soldiers, it’s handled brilliantly. Lynn Lowry is one of the few acting standouts in this film and it’s no wonder she’s something of a cult actress. Most notably the utterly hatstand ‘I Drink Your Blood’ and Cronenberg’s unsettling ‘Shivers’.
Like all great low-budget films, a lot of the story is taken up with exposition. This means sitting through a fair bit of dreary dialogue about crashed aircraft with top-secret cargo and some neat use of stock footage when the government discusses its last ditch option for containment. But you get what you pay for. The real story lies with the struggles of the characters. The civilians attempts to escape the military cordon, the world-weary Colonel Peckham’s (Lloyd Hollar) attempts to keep control of a deteriorating situation and, the government scientist’s (Richard France) desperate race against time to find a cure.
Amongst all this, we’re treated to some neat little old school horror film scares. That sweet old granny doing her knitting? Not so sweet. And watch out for that needle. A housewife taking her domestic chores to the extreme as she attempts to sweep up a field while some Crazies and the military do battle around her. There are even references to the Vietnam war as two of the characters are vets of that conflict and one scene has a priest set himself ablaze rather than be taken away like his parishioners. There are also some decent special effects similar to the gore seen a few years later in ‘Dawn…’.
‘The Crazies’ isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. What it is though, is a nice little diversion for a couple of hours through low budget 70s horror with some big ideas in an era when horror was far from the mainstream. The lack of glamour is one reason I’m rather fond of this era of horror as I think it enhances the downbeat feeling throughout. It’s not a classic but, if you’re a fan of this type of thing, it’s worth a look. And, like a lot of 70s films and just about ZERO nowadays, the poster kicks arse.
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