The Crazies (1973) - Arrow Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written September 30th, 2018*

Damn. I'm pretty disappointed by this, I'm a big fan of George Romero's work, so I knew I had to check out his early stuff at some point. I'd seen the remake of The Crazies a few years ago (And it is surprisingly decent), but the original had always been a black mark on my record. Sadly, the wait and hype really wasn't worth it for this low-budget effort.

It starts off well enough, with a scene of a man after having just killed his wife, try and burn down his home with his young children still inside it. It was surprisingly unsettling and done in an effective matter that not a single moment of the rest of the film manages to live up to.

I'm at a loss when it comes to even remembering the characters and events that happened in The Crazies. I'd only watched it last night and cannot remember a single thing about these characters aside from the performances all being just awful. It's understandable that being such a micro-budget effort, that things aren't going to be perfect, but it felt like they'd taken a bunch of first time actors to try and be convincing, but it just does not work.

I still really like the premise of The Crazies, a small hick town starts to lose their minds as a virus slowly turns the inhabitants into not quite zombies, but violent psychopaths. It's just a shame that so much time is spent at the characters vs the government forces sent in to control the situation rather than the actual "Crazies" . The government scientists are pretty bland and one note, they all wear the same costumes and it gets tired very quickly. It's a continuous loop of the leads running from these people, killing a few and moving on until it sorta just... ends? 

I was shocked that Romero actually made this after Night of the Living Dead, which is a much tighter effort and actually bothered to build its characters, while this feels like a much more amateur hour effort. All the gore and blood effects looks weird and fake, with that overly bright blood coloured blood that looks closer to paint than actual blood. 

This is not a good looking film either, the cinematography is constantly ugly and the camera work during the action is muddled and poor, making it hard to tell what is actually happening. Even with a brief run-time of 90 minutes, it still drags and goes off into needlessly drawn out scenes that do nothing to further the plot or let us get to know the characters. In all honesty, it' just kind of boring.

I sound really harsh on this, I know I'm making it sound atrocious, but it's not, it's just painfully average for all it's faults and problems. There are a few sparks of creativity that pop out every now and then, but it just didn't shine bright enough to make a full film worth watching. The best I can say about it is that Arrow's 4K remaster does its best to make an ugly film look good, there's some strong detail in a lot of scenes, but moments here and there look very soft and hazy.


I don't know what else to say about The Crazies, I'd only recommend checking it out if you're interested in seeing George Romero's filmography, but in all honesty, I'd suggest watching the 2010 remake instead. Which is something I rarely say.

5/10 Dans

The Crazies is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Westworld (1973) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 5th, 2016*

After watching the pilot for HBO's Westworld adaptation (Which was excellent), I thought I'd go back to where it started. 

This was pretty fun and not what I expected. I'd never seen this properly, but I have images from it from when I must have seen scenes as a child in passing, but it holds up pretty well. I wasn't surprised to see this was from the writer of Jurassic Park, as this very much feels in the same vein, but an earlier idea of the concept. A futuristic theme park goes wrong and the attractions start killing guests etc. 

The cast are great, Yul Brynner's performance clearly went onto inspire The Terminator and James Brolin must be Christian Bale's father right? I mean seriously, look at him. Someone has had an affair there. Richard Benjamin also does a great job holding the film together. Spending about an hour with Brolin and Benjamin before the event happens really helps you empathise with these characters. A lot of the first hour is just the two loads exploring the park and experiencing it, Brolin completely into it from the get-go, while Benjamin is far more unsure about the park, even feeling guilty that he may have possibly killed a guest instead of a robot, despite being told all the measures have been put in place for that not to happen.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more chaos. We actually see a higher body count from the Roman part of the park, which could have been an entire film in itself, but in Westworld it was pretty much a cat and mouse game between The Gunslinger and the lead. Everything between the Gunslinger and Richard Benjamin was great though, it was all tense and made use of a travelling from different parks.

I also thought there was a scene where The Gunslinger walks through a river which was spoofed in The Simpsons with Principal Skinner, must have got it confused with something else. Meh. I will track down what film that did spoof one day. The internet doesn't seem to have any answers. Help?

As good as Westworld is as a thriller, it does shine brightest as a sci-fi film. The whole film is gorgeous and filled with tons of great ideas (Many of which I assume will be references in HBO's TV show. For 1973, a lot of the practical effects hold up, especially the Gunslinger's unsettling melting robot face towards the end. Even the off putting look of the robots hands lend this weird surrealness to the whole thing. It's also lovely to just see blood squibs again, god I miss blood squibs...


A fun sci-fi film thriller all round and definitely worth a visit before seeing the HBO series. Will check out the sequel at some point, but I feel that won't be as good. Who knows.

8/10 Dans

Westworld is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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