George Romero's The Crazies (1973) on TCM

Thanks once again to TCM (Turner Classic Movies) for a great weekend of late night TV viewing. It was a double shot of fright flix by one of horror's greatest directors, George Romero; Night of the Living Dead, followed by The Crazies.

The Crazies was classic Romero. Once again there is the potential for global chaos, but this time instead of zombies, the threat is from military biological weapons that threaten a small Pennsylvanian town. The townspeople become crazy, violent and kill.

The military roars in and there's a lot more killing, stylishly done by the master. His multiple camera angle shots are edited by Romero himself once again, delivering his fantastic, recognizable style of film-making as see in NotLD and later in Martin and Dawn of the Dead.

Romero shows how society can easily fall apart and how fickle fate can be. He makes statements on government and military. You'll recognize some Romero "Living Dead" actors in this one including Richard Liberty (Logan or Dr. Frankenstein from Day of the Dead) and Richard France (Dr. Milliard Rausch from Dawn of the Dead, "dummies, dummies, dummies.")

You'll find your share of gore in this, including an exploding head shot; grant it, it is no way near as fantastic as Savini's "Miguel the zombie" shot from Dawn of theDead, but still, an exploding head is an exploding head.

If you've never seen George Romero's The Crazies and are a fan of the master, I highly recommend you check this one out.