George A. Romero’s 1973 horror film is set in small town Evans City, Pennsylvania. A local farmer suddenly goes crazy, murdering his wife and burns down his house. Firefighter David (Will McMillan) arrives on scene with firefighter buddy Clank (Harold Wayne Jones) and sees the farmer raving hysterically as he’s arrested and taken away.
Soon the army shows up in town and commandeer’s the local doctor’s office. David’s nurse girlfriend Judy (Lane Carroll) lets David that something is up. It seems that an army plane has crashed on the outskirts of the town and it was carrying an experimental virus which has now gotten into the town’s water supply. Soon more people are acting more violent and start killing each other. The army quarantines the town and blocks of all the roads going in and out.
David, Judy and Clank along with a teenager and her father try to break the quarantine and leave the town. Chaos is breaking loose and things keep getting worse.
Romero keeps the tension up and the movie is really good. There was a remake a few years ago but it doesn’t come close to the original.
