THE CRAZIES (1973) - Childhood film that I finally saw again tonight. It's actually a good film except some of the terrible acting by the army major. There were a number of interesting scenes in this low budget picture, but you can kinda see the similarities between THE CRAZIES and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Both of which are directed by George Romero. Glad to have seen it again. The film moves well. The Helecopter crash was a funny part as when the engine went out. They used the sound of an airplane stalling out then the explosion over the hill.
(http://www.blue-underground.com/images/trailers/crazieslarge.jpg)(http://www.horrordvdtalk.com/reviews/Crazies/moviepic19.jpg)
I'm not a fan of Romero in any way- but for some reason I've always wanted to watch this movie. One of these days I'll find a cheap copy somewhere...
>I'm not a fan of Romero in any way- but for some reason I've always wanted to watch this movie. One of these days I'll find a cheap copy somewhere...
I'll sell you mines, $8 (that's w/ shipping included). I didn't like it much. I felt there wasn't much action to back up all the talking going on, it's a good story but, I guess Romero got too carried away with simple dialogue and was very limited with resources.
$8? That sounds like a good price, dudeman. Is that a DVD copy or VHS? Do you have a paypal account?
it's DVD, I use my bros paypal account, his email is stephenaangeles@hotmail.com, (note: no spelling errors, there are two a's in his email, I've had confusion in the past)
I've always thought that this film just barely missed the mark, but not by enough to avoid seeing it. There are some sections that are nicely done, but the plot does drag at times. The DVD version is beautiful; much, much better than the VHS I had previously kept in my collection.
It is a bit talkie. The acting is poor (with a couple bright spots), the soldiers didn't seem military at all, but the idea is good for it's time. The idea of a virus that causes some type of "happy" delirium and the military puts the whole town into the high school gym. The ones who try to escape are shot. The whole Pennsylvania town is surrounded by white suited soldiers with gas mask as to not let anyone out.
The military personal and the doctor really hurt the film. It could have been something, but other than the idea and the white suited masked military the film becomes kinda like a Woody Allen meets Dr. Strangelove film without the intentional humor. Maybe it was intentional because they had a low budget.
I could see this film being remade and people calling it a 28 Days Later ripoff.
Hell, that's why I wanted to see it: because I'd heard it helped inspire 28 Days Later, and I love 28 Days Later. But instead of the gore flick with intelligent undertones that I expected from Romero, I got a movie with a good premise and decent-at-best execution. Oh well. Worth having in my collection just to show off to my friends who are horror fans and go "yeah, I've got it."