The Crazies, aka Code Name: Trixie. 1973. Directed by George Romero.

(10/13/00)

It is very difficult for me to comment on this film since I saw it in a print that had faded color and was hard to hear. It didn't make much of an impression on me. This is George Romero's "other" horror film, after Night of the Living Dead and my guess is that if it had been any good we would have heard of it.

It's about biological weapons that accidentally get into the drinking supply of a quiet Pennsylvania town. The government quarantines the town and desperately tries to cover up the blunder. The population are virtually prisoners at the mercy of military personnel in white jump suits. A small group of people try and make their way out of town. One of them, an attractive young woman, starts acting irrationally and we know that she has been infected. One by one they are killed until the last one left alive is captured.

At the end we learn that the virus has already spread to another location.

The film is frightening in its depiction of government incompetence. There is one sub-plot which really comes off. A scientist is brought to Pennsylvania over his protests. To help the situation he really needs to be back at his lab in Washington. After this has been established he is told that he can't be removed until he has undergone a medical check--and they don't have the facilities to do that.

Forced to work on the site he eventually finds what they need to know to stop the epidemic. The vital information is in a liquid sample in a test tube. He can't get through to the necessary person on the phone so he goes out to see him personally. Guards attack him in the hallway and, despite his protests and explanations, he is killed and the test tube is broken. It's all futile in this movie.

It's a low-budget action picture and is interesting only as such. The location shooting in Pennsylvania gives the film an interesting look. I wish we had seen more of the locals acting crazy.