In
the quiet rural country town of Evans City Philadelphia, the locals are
alarmed to discover the town being sealed off by the military and taken over
by heavily armed soldiers wearing gas masks and environmental suits.
The mayor and local authorities protest, only to be told that the town is now under quarantine as the water supply has been infected by a deadly nerve toxin from a crashed military plane, known as Trixie. Which causes psychotic behaviour and ultimately results in either death, or permanent madness for the infected persons.
As the first symptoms begin to show amongst the townsfolk, a small group of friends decide to try and sneak out of town through the surrounding woodlands and hide out on the outskirts until everything blows over. However, this proves to be no easy task as the army are soon hot on their trail, and as the going gets progressively more arduous they begin to suspect that a number of them may just be infected.
With all hell beginning to break loose in the town, as more and more infected start to emerge and attack the soldiers, a couple of scientists are flown in to try and come up with an antidote for the toxin. But with the number of infected steadily rising and the army beginning to loose control, will their efforts be too late?
Directed by George Romero, this 1973 film came out in the wake of his "Night of the Living Dead" and although not quite as well known as his earlier film, proves to be just as enjoyable. I did find this to be a little reminiscent of other films of this ilk, such as "The Cassandra Crossing" and "Outbreak" although this actually pre-dates both. The film has probably enjoyed something of a renaissance since being remade in 2010, so if you enjoyed that, or your a fan of Romero's early films you'd be advised to seek this out.
