Ode To Romero

I started to truly appreciate movies when I was about 12....
In fact, I can clearly remember my first Eureka moment. It happened one night around Halloween in 1992, and involved Joe Bob Briggs' Drive-In Theater. You remember Joe Bob, don't you? I've written about him before.


Well, there I was -- twelve years old, and watching a late-night Joe Bob Halloween show in hopes of seeing some action. Standard stuff, really. Why should that evening have been any different from countless others? Well, here's why: Night of the Living Dead. Yeah, on that particular broadcast, Joe Bob showcased the ORIGINAL Night of the Living Dead, which is one of the greatest movies ever made.

See, I had watched dozens of horror pictures before that, but they were all generic slashers and half-baked ghost stories. I hadn't necessarily paid DEEP attention to them, or any other movies for that matter. Prior to that fateful evening with Joe Bob, all I cared about when watching a film were laughs and, of course, nudity. Make me chuckle, show me some you-know-what, and I'm satisfied. You know -- I had a strictly pedestrian attitude about cinema. Furthermore, the only people involved in the film production process that I cared about were the stars. Like your average Entertainment Weekly reader, I figured all of the pretty celebrities were the reason why films worked; I hadn't given much consideration to the hundreds of behind-the-scenes folk that REALLY make a difference.

That all changed the first time I saw Night of the Living Dead. Here's the deal: I watched the movie, and then went to bed. However, there was a problem -- I felt too creeped out to sleep. That darn zombie picture had messed with my head, and I couldn't shake a certain bizarre uneasiness with which it had filled me. Around two AM, I went downstairs to get a snack, and felt like there were horrible creatures lurking in every shadow. I ran back to my room, fully knowing that my dread was absurd. Why did that horror movie affect me so deeply, while other films of the same genre had never done so? Many pictures in the Friday the 13th series, for example, were MUCH bloodier than NOTLD, yet they made me feel nothing. Over the next few days, I pondered this, and concluded that there must have been something in the way Night of the Living Dead WAS MADE that rendered it somehow...different. I did research on the filmmaking process; I asked an art teacher why some movies work better than others; I consulted my middle school library (which was a first)....Finally, I realized that what separated Night of the Living Dead from other movies must have been its DIRECTOR. Yes, NOTLD director George Romero must have applied some technique to his film that made it better than it should have been. Hmmm....


I re-watched Night of the Living Dead, gaining a new appreciation for the skill and thought that went into establishing its atmosphere. There's a kind of slow-boiling tension in that movie which grows with each exchange; attention is focused on drama between our heroes, instead of the menace outside. As an audience, we get so wrapped up in the conflict brewing among people that the monsters nearby almost take a backseat and, when they DO finally attack, the payoff is huge. Such a brilliant combination of realism and style! The young me had his first taste of the artistry of filmmaking, courtesy of George Romero, and he became my first favorite director. I quickly checked out all of his movies at my local video store.

Not many people realize this, but George has a bunch of titles under his belt, and not all of them deal with zombies. No -- Romero may have pioneered the zombie genre for what it is, but he's also done all sorts of other films, many of which are quite good. My favorite, I think, is The Dark Half. It's easily the best Stephen King adaptation (yes, better than Pet Semetary), and I say it's a shame that the film has been largely overlooked. I advise you fine folks to check it out. I also like Knightriders, which is one of the weirdest pictures you'll ever see. Indeed, Mr. Romero has a distinguished resume', and I salute him for starting me down the path to true movie geekdom.


Oh, and among George's non-zombie films is the 1973 adventure, The Crazies. Guess what -- there's a remake in theaters now!

The Crazies (2010)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455407/


Netflix description:
When a plane crashes in a small town, a secret biological weapon is released. As the toxic substance infiltrates the local water system, some residents become gravely ill, while others descend into homicidal madness. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) attempts to set things straight, but soon the military becomes involved in containing the killer virus. Breck Eisner directs this chilling remake of George A. Romero's 1973 horror classic.

So, The Crazies 2010 differs from The Crazies 1973 in the same ways that the Dawn of the Dead remake differed from its source material: the new one is faster, shiner, and streamlined. Plus, it features Johnny Cash in its soundtrack, which is nice.

The premise here is pretty much the same. Our hero is a rural sheriff named David who learns pretty early on that his town's water supply has been contaminated by some kind of military virus that makes its victims go insane. You drink that water, and BLAM -- it's all over for you. You'll become all nutty and extremely violent within a matter of 48 hours. Of course, just as David figures this out, the GOVERNMENT shows up and quarantines his entire town. Agents in gas masks and hazmat suits round everyone up into a makeshift concentration camp at the local high school, sometimes in brutal ways.

David escapes with his wife and a couple of friends, and together, they hike their way toward freedom in another community. WILL they make it before the whole area gets nuked by the feds? CAN the disease be stopped?? WHY aren't our heroes infected while everyone else seems to be???


The Crazies is a wild movie. Fast-paced from start to finish, it is a heck of a lot flashier than the original...and that ain't a bad thing. I mean, I love the George Romero version of this film, but my one complaint about it has always been that it's too slow for its own good, and The Crazies 2010 certainly DOES NOT suffer from the same problem. This picture cuts right to the chase within the first few minutes, as a crazed rube wanders out on to a high school baseball diamond with a shotgun and our hero has to take him out. From that point, little time is wasted in establishing that things are falling apart, and I appreciate that.

Our adventure follows David exclusively, and we don't learn much about what's going on outside of his town. Is the entire country in trouble, or just this little backwater in Iowa? We have no idea, and I thought that approach made the whole experience all the more effective. Cut off and hunted, David and his pals are just as much confused about what's going on as they are determined to get through it. They're like animals in a race against time -- it's obvious that the feds have something horrible planned for that little town, and Dave and company have GOT to find a way past those roadblocks before the crap goes down!

My only complaint about The Crazies is that it didn't focus enough on the insane infected. I mean, sure -- Dave and friends DO get attacked on a few occasions by crazy people; but I wanted to see more of that. Instead, our heroes' main enemy is the military. Now, hundreds of anonymous soldiers may be worthy adversaries, but they're just not as scary as homicidal small townsfolk with pitchforks. Opportunity for hilarity missed.

Despite that issue, however, The Crazies is a lot of fun. You'll laugh; you'll cry; you'll jump four feet into the air (several times). The film makes a few semi-profound statements about mankind's contamination of his environment and, as noted, the action rarely stops. I recommend this picture not only to horror trolls, but also to anyone in search of an easy thrill. The Crazies may clock in at over two hours, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

4 out of 5.

b.