Five Great Films From The Master of Modern Zombie Movies

“The Crazies” (1973)
A marvelous study in fully justified paranoia, 1976’s “The Crazies” was one of Romero’s most direct attempts to trade on the reputation of “Night Of The Living Dead” prior to making his sequel, but if the authorities in “NOTLD” were often clumsy and inept, here they seem every bit as dangerous as the contagion they’re trying to contain. The federal government has accidentally released a new biological weapon in a small ... more 

“The Crazies” (1973)
A marvelous study in fully justified paranoia, 1976’s “The Crazies” was one of Romero’s most direct attempts to trade on the reputation of “Night Of The Living Dead” prior to making his sequel, but if the authorities in “NOTLD” were often clumsy and inept, here they seem every bit as dangerous as the contagion they’re trying to contain. The federal government has accidentally released a new biological weapon in a small Pennsylvania town, and as the military and the police struggle to round up those infected with the aggressive virus, the victims become increasingly unstable and violent, leading to a grim stand-off. The anti-authoritarian tone of “The Crazies” feels prescient more than four decades after it was released, and the battle between the lunatics and the faceless army (literally – with their gas masks and chemical suits, they look like a squadron of identical robots) is unsettling no matter where you stand on the political divide. less