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The Crazies

The Crazies

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Over 30 Years Old
Review: Okay, this movie is over 30 years old and it really shows. Some of it is very silly and could have been done in much less time. The editing is poor, the special effects are not special nor really effects, and so on. The acting is better than most of the rest of the movie. It might have been okay during that timeframe, but pales for anything today.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Underrated Classic
Review: One of Romero's most underrated works, it is more relevant today than ever before. The only bad part about this feature is the...ending. Otherwise, another great piece of claustrophobic horror from Romero. The DVD itself is a must for fans, espeically the great Lynn Lowry interview. Romero's commentary with Bill Lustig is also very interesting.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: -Wasn't as creepy as you would expect a Romero flick to be.-
Review: Pittsburgh director, George Romero's second film, The Crazies wasn't as creepy as one would expect Night of the Living Dead's younger sister to be. Taking advantage of a larger budget, higher quality film, and featuring more experienced actors, The Crazies never received the same spooky, washed-out look that The Night of the Living Dead had. Lack of creativity wasn't to blame, only directorial inexperience, as the plot is still wonderfully survivalistic.A plane loaded with bacterialogical weaponry crashes, infecting the water supply of a small Pennsylvania town. When the good townspeople begin brutaly murdering each other, the army is sent in to set up a quarantine. Despite it's not being very scary this film is still an important addition to any horror buff's collection.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: More bark than bite
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT!
Review: The main reason I bought this was because of the 14 minute Lynn Lowry documentary. She is obscure even for a cult film star, so many people don't know about her. I first saw her in David Cronenberg's SHIVERS (Highly recomended).

But anyways, about the movie. I watched it with the audio commentary of George Romero and Bill Lustick (he dosn't say who he is) and it was really fun listening to. This is a great movie if you grew up watching horror films on friday or saturday nights. It also has Richard France, who you might recognize as the zombie expert with the eye patch in Dawn of the Dead, as a scientist trying to find a cure for the epidemic.

This movie is great to watch alone on a stormy night, or to put on in the background of a Halloween party. Worth it, buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Crazies How It Should Be Seen
Review: The new DVD superb! The picture is crisp and is presented
in the widescreen format for the first time. One question,
if a negative was available why did the previous edition
on Anchor Bay look so poor? The film has its weak points.
Some of the acting is crude and the post-production sound
is muddy in places, but the editing is fast and furious!
George's commentary is funny and insightful but sounds as
if it has been pitched a little low. Go out and buy this
DVD now!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Confused? So am I!
Review: 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?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An underrated film
Review: This film is seldom mentioned when one discusses the works of director George Romero, but it still ranks in the forefront of his work. The allegorical undertones are just as important as those in his "Living Dead" trilogy; the execution is a bit rougher, but the results prove to extremely fascinating and powerful.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Romero's best since Night and Dawn of the Dead
Review: This film often gets judged harshly merely because when one thinks of Romero, one thinks of his Living Dead trilogy. Unlike his other none zombie films such as Martin and Knight Riders this film has true artistic merit.

A top secret virus developed by the army is accidently unleashed on a unexpecting town and chaos quickly takes over as the army struggles to contain the virus.

The citizens of the town are driven mad by the virus and go on killing sprees of epic rampage. It seems no one is immune or safe. Even a nice elderly grandmother stabs a solider through the heart with a knitting needle as he tries to help her.

The virus seems to bring out the dark surpressed urges of all those who are exposed to it. One father even tries to rape his own daugther in a rather intense scene. The "End of the World" feel of this film cannot be ignored. It is easily on the level of Dawn of the Dead though Dawn will always be without question Romero's ultimate masterpiece.

A top notch film from one of the masters of the genre George Romero, this film is a must for any fan of "End of the World" movies and an excellent edition to any horror collection.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Terrible Waste of Time
Review: This low budget zombie-esque film is a complete waste of time, I rented it thinking that it would at least have some frightening moments but what I got instead was a test in patience. The details concern a toxic agent released by some dumb witted morons in the army in a small town and soon everyone gets the disease. The military, or what appears like extras in cheap army clothing, start to order martial law except a few hot headed guys break out. Each time the military is shown on the screen, Romero has some corny drum beating like we are too stupid to figure out that the army is there. Absolutely no suspense and an awful ending to boot....




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