The Crazies

An uncommonly interminable piece of work, The Crazies details the chaos that ensues after a deadly virus is accidentally unleashed on a small town – with the movie subsequently following a small group of survivors as they attempt to escape the military’s trigger-happy clutches. George A. Romero’s stunning incompetence is in evidence right from the word go, as the filmmaker launches directly into the storyline with nary a whiff of context or character development – thus ensuring that the viewer’s ongoing efforts at working up sympathy for the protagonists’ increasingly perilous plight fall flat on an all-too-consistent basis. The film’s myriad of problems are exacerbated by Romero’s pervasively amateurish directorial sensibilities, with the shot-on-the-cheap visuals, aggressively obnoxious score, and eye-rollingly dated editorial choices ranking high on The Crazies‘ list of hopelessly inept elements. There’s consequently little doubt that the movie’s disjointed and flat-out nonsensical atmosphere instantly transforms it into a seemingly insurmountable endurance test, and it’s certainly not difficult to envision even the most ardent Romero fan throwing their arms up in frustration – with the curious lack of violence and gore essentially perpetuating the vibe of superfluousness that’s been hard-wired into every aspect of the proceedings. The end result is a thoroughly unpleasant cinematic experience that would’ve undoubtedly ended any other filmmaker’s career, with Romero’s unwarranted longevity surely due to his ongoing successes within the zombie genre.

no stars out of ****