Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
The Crazies
Stars:
Lane Carroll, W.G. McMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar, Lynn Lowry,
Richard Liberty, and Richard France
Writer:
George Romero
Director:
George Romero
Feature
length: 103 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director George Romero, Interview With Lynn
Lowry, Trailers, TV Spots, Poster & Still Gallery, George Romero Bio Notes
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 25
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1973/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Blue Underground
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
"It's
hard to find a hero in life..." George A. Romero
I
am not entirely sure how long they have been distributing films on DVD, but as
far as I am concerned after screening and reviewing their DVD releases of George
A. Romero’s “The Crazies” and the George A. Romero and Dario Argento
anthology feature “Two Evil Eyes,” I have to proclaim to all fans of genre
films on DVD that there is a new player on the field to watch and that player is
Blue Underground.
Without
naming the other teams out there, all I can say is that if the quality of
releases for neglected genre films on DVD increases like we have seen from many
distributors, then the welcomed addition of Blue Underground can only make
moving watching even better with the quality DVD release of “The Crazies,”
which is an overlooked early feature film effort from Writer and Director George
A. Romero that was made approximately four years after the classic “Night Of
The Living Dead” and five years before the spectacular “Dawn Of The Dead.”
“The Crazies” AKA “Codename: Trixie” is pure Romero horror storytelling
that is as frightening now if not more so than it was in 1973. A virus is
accidentally released into the water supply of Evans City, Pennsylvania.
Engineered as a bio weapon by the government, the effects of “Trixie” are
devastating and lethal. The virus for the most part only affects people, but it
is highly contagious and victims suffer from severe delusions and or violent
psychotic behavior before overall and complete breakdown of all sensory motor
functions and death. Once infected the effects that manifest themselves
differently in various people taking them on a downward spiral at various rates
of time are irreversible.
If
the disease can’t be quarantined, “Trixie” could infect then entire
continent in weeks so very quickly the military is called into Evans City and
martial law is declared with families being dragged out of their homes by armed
soldiers in masques and protective gear and placed like lambs for the slaughter
in a high school gym where the infection quickly spreads out of control. The
army is completely ill prepared for the effects as some of their own soldiers
succumb to “Trixie” while on the outskirts, armed farmers and locale militia
have shootouts with the army. Soon it is no longer a matter of saving the town,
but of covering up a government made monster so those not yet interned are to be
shot on sight at the slightest resistance and their bodies immediately burned
while the President and his advisers mull over dropping the bomb on the town as
a way of covering up and preventing “Trixie” from breaking out elsewhere.
Two
firemen, a pregnant nurse, a father, and his young adult daughter manage to
escape to the furthest reaches of the area, but with armed soldiers and trigger
happy locales who may or may not be infected, escape beyond the perimeter might
prove futile, especially when symptoms of the virus begin to show up among
members within the group. “The Crazies” delivers the nihilistic and ironic
tones of tragedy that George A. Romero fans have come to expect. The film
features many actors from previous and future Romero projects that followed it
and firmly establishes the type of kinetic energy and commentary on the darker
side of the human condition that few filmmakers can tap and has always kept
Romero’s films ahead of both his competitors and imitators alike.
There
are scenes that will remind those familiar with Romero’s “Living Dead
Series” of the kind of primal energy the filmmaker injects into his films,
such as the attitude of the soldiers who loot the victims homes and personal
belongings on them almost as quickly as they cage them up or shoot them down for
resisting.
Blue
Underground has restored “The Crazies” for this exclusive DVD edition from
the original negative materials and the results even has Mr. Romero himself
noting on the feature length audio commentary track he shares with filmmaker
turned DVD Executive Producer William Lustig (Maniac), that the film in this
form looks better than the original theatrical screenings. In fact Lustig notes
that certain elements Romero was unhappy with, such as a few day for night
sequences had been digitally fixed to make those scenes appear as Romero would
have liked and yet at the same time, this is not some cleaned up version of
“The Crazies.” On the contrary because Romero has no problem pointing out
the little mistakes that still exist in the film, like eye direction among
interacting characters, which shows the viewer that any kind of restoration and
digital enhancement performed was only to bring the film to the level of what
was possible in 1973 and within Romero’s budget as well so purists have no
worries about CGI gun shots or whatnot.
The
transfer still has a few flecks and scratches here and there, but as a whole
“The Crazies” looks great with a wonderful 16 by 9 (1.66:1) aspect ratio
presentation and a clear two-channel English Monaural Soundtrack. This DVD is
region free as well so it can be played back anywhere around the world as long
as the consumer has a DVD player capable of NTSC DVD playback. In addition to
the feature length audio commentary track, there is a brand new videotaped
interview with Star Lynn Lowry entitled “The Cult Film Legacy Of Lynn Lowry”
(14:02) where she discusses her film career in the 1970s through the 1981 remake
of “Cat People,” commenting working with such renowned genre filmmakers like
David Cronenberg an even Ivan Reitman. The theatrical trailers appear to have
either been restored or very well preserved with two counting in at (2:56) and
(3:04) respectively. If there are any doubts about the amount of love and care
that has gone into this film restoration on DVD, one need only to see the
64-second and 33-second TV spots to compare the picture quality and see the
difference.
An
extensive gallery of color and black and white production photos, lobby cards,
print advertisements, one-sheets, newspaper reviews, foreign marketing
materials, and even home video cover art is included along with well written
biographical notes with complete directing credits for George A. Romero that
even comments on his fourth installment in the “Living Dead” series “Dead
Reckoning,” which hopefully will come to fruition sooner rather than later.
The
interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate. “The Crazies” is
available on DVD-Video now from Blue Underground and it is an excellent release
that every George A. Romero fan should include in their own DVD libraries.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link
Below!
The Crazies