Forgotten Films: The Crazies (1973)

George A. Romero is rightfully known as the father of the modern zombie movie. Without him, we wouldn't have either the good or the bad zombie flicks out there. However, this movie he did in 1973, could likely be seen as the original version of 28 Days Later.

People forget that despite the fact that 28 Days Later was the start of the re-invigoration or 2nd wave of the Zombie craze, that it wasn't really a zombie movie, but a contagion movie. The Crazies was really the one to pioneer this idea, as most other contagion movies of the time just had death as a consequence of the outbreak.

As with his zombie movies, I think Romero really loves telling the tale of the survivors, which can be good, but more of then than not, the most interesting part of the movies by far is the world building. Seeing everything fall or collapse because of the zombies was always the best part of the 'dead' series of movies and it's no different here. Basically a military bioweapon is accidentally released upon a small town that causes people to go completely homicidally bugnuts.  

The setup is really the best part of the movie, and in the original script, was really to just be glossed over, but thanks to the screenwriter Lee Hessel, it was then expanded upon in the final filming script and the movie is much better because of it. So, the military takeover of the town because of the outbreak is just full of horrifying and mind-bending visuals and is nothing short of impressive. However, to be fair, the movie does start to peter out with the intrigue and tension to a bit of a muddling pacing when focusing on the survivors later in the film, but does have a decent ending in my opinion.

So, I can see why it may have been a bit of a flop when initially released, but it certainly gained a resurgence with a cult status after release on home video. So much so that there was a remake of the movie made in 2010, but like most reboots, was pretty trash compared to the original. But, if you like Romero films, or something of a similar vein to 28 Days Later, give it a shot and I think you will not be disappointed.