This forms part one of a two part review; I purchased a DVD containing both the original and the remake of “The Crazies”. This is the review of the original.'Pixie' is name given by the American government to a man made virus that has accidentally entered the water supply of a small Pennsylvanian town. The virus does one of two things – depending on who it infects – it either kills them or drives them irreversibly insane. The army is sent in to maintain a perimeter around the town to stop people getting in or out in order to contain the virus however, there is no known antidote, so they must simply wait it out until all the town's residents either die or go insane.
The movie appears to be low budget but since it is now 37 years old it may simply be its age. The visuals appear low budget however the underlying story still shows through; the movie was made at a time when biological weapons attacks were a concern for America. This fear coupled with the army invading people's homes and rounding them up 'for their own safety' makes the town into the setting for a civilian uprising against the “invading force” that is the army.
The movie jumps around to varying location often, an example of this is when the general is telling someone to get someone onto a plane and to the town it quickly cuts away for a second or two showing stock footage to represent the command being followed, it is done in a style similar to Requiem for a dream. This works well on the few occasions that it is used however overall the movie is spread a little thin and contains far more talking than is necessary.
The army troops are all dressed in protective suits and gas masks which made the majority of the dialogue said by them muffled and on occasion inaudible.
The crazies may have been a good horror movie when it came out but in the near 40 years since it has lost some of its kick.
Rating 3 out of 5
See it if you liked:
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Crazies (2010)
Resident Evil
What does IMDB say?
Review by Kevin Brown
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