The Crazies (1973)

I suppose this might resonate more now in the wake of the recent global lockdown, but I'm afraid I found it all rather tame and predictable. A devastating virus is accidentally released in a small Pennsylvania town and the military have to contain it before the gradual, but irreversible, insanity it causes spreads throughout the entire country. Responsibility for this onerous task rests firmly with "Col. Peckem" (Lloyd Hollar) as he has to contend with an increasingly fed up local mayor, communications problems and a town that is slowly becoming more and more lawless (and dangerous) by the minute. It doesn't help that, pregnant, local nurse "Judy" (Lane Carroll) has skulked off with fireman husband "David" (Will MacMillan) to try escape the quarantine zone and so he has to try and track them down too. Finally, there is the eccentric "Dr. Watts" (Richard France) who is trying to find a cure for this by sampling the blood of just about everybody/thing he can jab a needle into. This is all your standard contagion horror film, and is produced to a remarkably mediocre standard. The acting is pretty ropey, the script likewise and the denouement is probably the least realistic you could imagine. Taken with your tongue in your cheek, it might raise a smile or two as the stupefied locals take on more zombified (and super-human) strengths, but this is just a rehash of some more charismatically cast Hammer style films without the slightest sense of peril. It does reiterate the oft presented position that the US Military is great at starting problems but hopeless at solving them, but I'm not sure that's what George A. Romero was looking for when he created this rather feeble effort. I saw it on a big screen just last week and I made it through to the end. I won't bother with it again.