I've said it before, and I say it at least once a week, "George Romero can't do shit outside of the zombie genre!". I mean, I've seen the majority of his flicks, and the only ones that made an impact on me were NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD. Hell, not even DAY OF THE DEAD was that impressive, but at least it was better than MONKEY SHINES or this movie, THE CRAZIES. It's a flick about mob insanity (and no, not the Italian guys, just a large grouping of people in unrest), which opens with 2 kids, their dead mother, their madman father, and their being set on fire. Appears there's been some kind of outbreak in the town, driving the people mad and bringing the military in to "protect them from themselves" by quarantining the area. We learn that the plague is the cause of a plane crash. Seems the plea was carrying an experimental vaccine, and when the plane hit, it spread like wildfire over the countryside. Marshal law (no, not the kung-fu show with the fat ninja guy) is declared, and the townspeople are round up like cattle while the poor schmos already infected with the virus go nuts and raise Hell. Meanwhile, the people who don't really enjoy being oppressed or taken to the level of animals decide to fight back, against their gas-mask endowed government Nazis. We also find out that, not only is the virus incurable, but that it can only be spread through primates, i.e. monkeys and us. At this point, I break into one of my trademark stints of apathy, as I lose all interest in the movie. As for the rest of the movie, in Romero's Dead Trilogy style, our small group of renegades get the usual inner turmoil. Then, some guy in a beard uncovers a cure, but it's lost when he and his cure are trampled by a mob of loonies and soldiers. Elsewhere, our gang has been slimmed down to Dave and Judy (and their unborn child), who make their way to the outskirts of town, before being shot down like dogs. A fine example of Romero's "so close, yet so far" endings. Sure, alot of people hail this as one of Romero's most underrated flicks. Why? BECAUSE WE SAW THE SAME THING IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD! People bitch because filmmakers bite from Romero's work for their movies (I am one of these angry critics), but it really makes me cringe when a creator copies his previous work! Did the guy not have any new ideas? Sure, I hate anything he did aside from the Dead Trilogy, but at least he tried instead of basically rerunning his original hit! Uggh, it's a sad sad world. On the plus side, there's a great head shot scene and guys in gas masks running around shooting people, but not even a cast of nothing but people in gas masks can make a movie cool on it's own... Oh, and don't forget to sweep the yard.

Also Known As: CODENAME: TRIXIE; THE MAD PEOPLE

Sequels: None

If You Liked This Flick, Check Out: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD or THE BELIEVERS