In the small town of Evans City, Pennsylvania a man kills his wife, and sets his house on fire for no apparent reason. As the firefighters are putting out the blaze, soldiers start pouring into the town. Headed by Colonel Peckham, they soon take over, and start a quarantine for the entire populace. They are supposed to cover-up a plane crash that had occurred a few days earlier. It was carrying an experimental vaccine, code-named "Trixie" which will soon turn this town into a killing field.

We soon learn that "Trixie" isn't a vaccine at all. It is a bacterial biological weapon. It makes the townspeople crazy, turning some of them into violent maniacs. The soldiers who are trying to clear the people out of their homes soon start to get slaughtered by them. At the same time, a group of five people manage to keep out of the grasp of the roving patrols. They are seemingly unaffected, but with the soldiers closing in, and one of their group getting the giggles, it might already be too late.

This is one of George Romero's early films. Between 1968's Night of the Living Dead and 1979's Dawn of the Dead, he made four films. Out of the four, two are classics, and this is one of them. I'm sure many people will be disappointed to learn, that this has nothing to do with zombies. After stating that, I can still say that this is a good movie. While by no means is it up there with his trilogy, Romero made something special here, and sadly, it's been overlooked by time.

While there is plenty of violence, there is an unusually small amount of gore in this movie. Most of the blood is from gunshot wounds. Mostly, it's a bunch of insane rednecks having shootouts with gasmask-clad soldiers. Some of the effects are dated, but considering the small budget, and the time period, that is easily overlooked. No nudity whatsoever, but there is a laughable incest scene that has this old man grunting all over his teenage daughter. Lets just say, it was a bleeder.

This is a really weird film at times. It goes in 5 different directions all at once, but somehow you can still keep up with it. That aside, I still thought it was a very entertaining movie by one of the best directors out there. Though it is by no means one of Romero's best films, it is definitely worth checking out.

7 out of 10 bloody thigh shots