By Lee Pfeiffer
I'll admit to not being very conversant regarding the films of George Romero, aside from Night of the Living Dead. With the remake of his 1973 thriller The Crazies now in theaters, I thought it would be worthwhile checking out Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of the original film. Despite the title, which insinuates this is some kind of campy monster movie, I was quite surprised the film is a highly effective suspense movie played straight-faced and without over-the-top characters or situations. The storyline finds that a top secret government experiment in biological warfare has gone astray, leaving residents of a small Pennsylvania town infected. Suddenly, many locals begin to display signs of madness that eventually culminates in their acting as raving, murderous lunatics. As the townspeople scramble to prevent themselves from being infected, they must also deal with the horrendous problem of fending off attacks from friends and loved ones who are now hunting them down to kill them. This frightening scenario clearly inspired the slicker and more polished British film 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later, but Romero's production is also highly effective in delivering the chills.
One should consider the time period in which the movie was shot. It went into production at the tail end of the Vietnam War protests and during the midst of the Watergate scandal. The wave of skepticism the public accrued toward the government is clearly reflected in the screenplay. Suddenly, government was no longer the symbol of stability and social order that was traditionally depicted on film. In fact, American's love affair with conspiracy theories is a tried-and-true tradition.There are people who still think FDR arranged for Pearl Harbor to be bombed so the USA would enter the war and save England. There are plenty of scholars and academics who have long chronicled their beliefs that virtually every assassination on American soil had the government's fingerprints on it. The age of the Internet has put such theories on steroids: there are kooks on the left who believe George Bush orchestrated the destruction of the World Trade Center and there are kooks on the right who believe President Obama is an illegal alien. Hollywood has always been there to exploit these fears, sometimes with expertly-made films such as
Seven Days in May and sometimes through forgettable grade B movies. In the wake of Watergate, however, paranoia became a major selling point in American films - a tradition that continues to this day. It's rare any political figure or CIA big wig isn't depicted as the source of treason.Â
On the surface, The Crazies is just a thriller, but one doesn't have to scratch too hard to see the political implications. The question is just what those implications are intended to define. The government is depicted as being virtually a clone of Soviet-style repression. The military is sent in to seal off the town to avoid infected people from spreading the disease - but if it appears they are failing, the nameless, faceless president agrees to arrange an "accidental" dropping of a nuclear bomb to solve the problem and cover up the fact that the government is tinkering with biological weapons. The individual soldiers themselves are not demonized, however, as they are clueless as to the real intent of their mission. At times the film plays like a recruiting poster for the National Rifle Association. The message seems to be that only well-armed, everyday citizens can repel a government out of control. On the other hand, one could find equal reinforcement of the belief that the film argues for strict gun control, as it depicts those well-armed citizens turning into confused mobs that gun down the innocent as well as the intended victims. When it comes to any specific philosophy the movie might espouse, you can take your pick.
What is not debatable, however, is that Romero had, by this point, emerged as a considerable talent. Armed with a (relatively) large budget, he still eschewed studio work in favor of shooting on real locations in the Pittsburgh area and in actual houses, a facet that adds immeasurably to the film's appeal. He also gets surprisingly effective performances from his cast of largely unknowns. The movie ultimately takes on elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with a small group of heroes valiantly trying to escape overwhelming odds while being picked off one-by-one.
The Blu-ray edition looks great and presents some bonus extras including an interview with cast member Lynn Lowry, who plays a hippie girl in the film. She discusses how her work in this movie, along with soft core sex films and other cult films, has led to her developing a loyal fan base. The interview doesn't stint on including provocative nude shots from behind the scenes on these films. Lowry, who is now a singer, comes across as unpretentious and likable. She also says the manner in which Romero handled her character's fate caused her to argue with the director at the time but she now feels he must have been correct. The disc also contains original trailers and TV spots. In all, a film very well worthwhile checking out - though one would hope that Romero himself would participate in a future special edition.
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