Citizens of a small town are infected by a biological weapon that causes its victims to become violently insane. As uninfected citizens struggle to survive, the military readies its own response.
Romero doesn’t have the best handle on the film as a whole, but he still manages some perfect moments that bring the era’s potential horrors into the heart of America, like a man losing his mind, then his life, against the misty backdrop of a small-town bridge at dawn. The suggestion is inescapable: one small push, and this could be your life.
75
Slant Magazine
Eric Henderson
The Crazies lacks the nightmarish momentum of Romero’s best zombie flicks, but it’s no less astute with its allegorical potshots.
Romero paints a bleak picture of a bureaucracy that has nothing but contempt for the lives of private citizens, zealously harbors secrets, and gives unbelievable power to a basically incompetent military.