Wednesday 29 October 2008

Day 29: The Crazies

I’d love to be told The Crazies is a great film. Especially if it’s true. I consider George Romero to be The Maestro as far as zombie movies are concerned, but my enthusiasm doesn’t quite extend to anything else he’s done. The slow-paced Martin, for instance, left me cold, but I’d be prepared to give it another go with my now no-longer teenaged head on (that old teenage head might’ve had more hair on it but, damn, it got bored easily). I fared better with Creepshow and Monkey Shines, both of which were just weird and wacky enough to keep me entertained, but as for Romero’s dull contribution to the two-part anthology Two Evil Eyes... well, talk about your “dark half”. Wait, that’s also the name of the Stephen King novel he adapted in 1993! And that was so memorable I can’t remember anything about it.

The Crazies might be the closest George has got to the outbreak themes addressed in his brilliant Dead movies without making another all-out zombie flick. It concerns the effects of a malignant virus called Trixie (scary!) which, from the looks of things, turns the residents of a Pennsylvania town into CRAZIES – which is an acronym of “Creepy Rednecks Are Zombified In Every Scene” – and causes them to engage in all kinds of “crazy” behaviour. I’m not sure how crazy exactly, but Romero isn’t one to shy away from the violent and nasty so I doubt it’s anything like the sort referred to in those hilarious “You don’t have to be mad to work here – but it helps!” signs.

But how mad would you have to be to miss The Crazies?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have never seen this but have always wanted to. I think Lynn Lowry is one of the most beautiful women who ever walked this earth. I would see it just for her. I mean dude, I watched Sugar Cookies. Luckily, it looks pretty good too.

Stacia said...

I loved "The Crazies". There were some issues with the film, pretty much the same issues as in "Day of the Dead" (low budget, iffy actors, occasionally clumsy dialogue) but all in all it was great. And yes, some of the crazy behavior will freak you the heck out.