The Crazies

1973
R
1h 43m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

15K

YOUR RATING

Lane Carroll, Bonnie Hinzman, and Will MacMillan in The Crazies (1973)

The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.

Play trailer2:57

1 Video

99+ Photos

Dark Comedy Action Horror Sci-Fi

The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.

Director
- George A. Romero
Writers
- Paul McCollough
- George A. Romero
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

15K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George A. Romero
Writers
- Paul McCollough
- George A. Romero
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The burning house at the beginning of the film was a bit of serendipity for the film's crew. The local fire department was burning down an old house to practice putting out the fire, and agreed to let the filmmakers set up and film the event.

Goofs
It is stated repeatedly that the pathogen is a virus, but several references are made to it being a "bacteriological" weapon, as if viral infections and bacterial infections are the same thing. The female lead also takes an antibiotic that slows her response to the pathogen, but antibiotics are for bacteria and wouldn't help against a virus.

Quotes
Army Doctor: Okay, Colonel Peckem, last test is negative. You're all clean, virus free. We can sign you out. The helicopter will be arriving in a few minutes.
Col. Peckem: Any news from Deitrich?
Army Doctor: They're sending a new man from the Trixie project to take over as Dr. Watts' replacement. He should be here in the morning. If only we knew what Watts was working on. We checked the slides he left behind in his microscope and his notes, but we can't make heads or tails out of any of it. He was onto something, we know that. We'll dope it out sooner or later.
Col. Peckem: [sighs] Sooner or later.
Army Doctor: I understand that they found a Reeces monkey at Deitrich, immune. We'll find a human subject sooner or later.
Col. Peckem: Yeah... sooner or later.
[a soldier arrives with David, who is not showing symptoms]
Soldier: Hey, you want an immunity check on this one, Doc?
Army Doctor: [to the soldier] Are you kidding me? Put him with the others!
[both Peckem and David make eye contact with each other, in which David smirks and he is taken away by the soldier, as Colonel Peckem also walks away towards the landing zone area]

Connections
Featured in The American Nightmare (2000)

Soundtracks
Heaven Help Us
Composed by Carole Bayer Sager and Melissa Manchester
Sung by Beverly Bremers
Courtesy of Sceptor Records

User reviews148

Review

Featured review

5/10

a movie in desperate need of MORE craziness

Like Romero's "Day of the Dead," this is another marathon of carnage and excess talk, filled with scattered themes (martial law, role of the military, bureaucracy, disease, etc.). It's high-concept stuff, granted, but the budget is low and the script is unfocused. Like the attorney general's definition of "terrorism," the effects of the virus in "The Crazies" is just as vague (abnormal behavior that varies from person to person), but the unpredictability gets tedious after a while. The reason David Cronenberg's similarly-themed "Shivers" worked so well is because the parasites had a specific function (to replace a dead organ) and side-effect (they transform people into sex maniacs), and were confined to one specific location (an apartment complex). "The Crazies" is ambitious, but the unengaging performances and heavy-handed symbolism (tattered American flags, toy soldiers stepped on by real soldiers) renders it a mediocre oddity on Romero's resume.

5/10