Review: Shakma (1990)

(aka Panic in the Tower)
Directed by: Hugh Parks, Tom Logan
Starring: Christopher Atkins, Amanda Wyss, Roddy McDowall
Written by: Roger Engle
Music by: David C. Williams
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray (Code Red)
IMDb

Shakma is notable for two things: It’s one of the only killer baboon horror movies, and it’s one of the only horror movies in which LARPing is a prominent story component. The movie takes place entirely in one wing of a med school on one day, in which a nerdy professor and a small group of his nerdy students are testing an experimental rage-inhibiting, but sometimes rage-inducing, drug (it’s … not a great drug) on their titular pet baboon during the day and then getting their LARP on in the evening. At first, a baboon seems too goddamn silly to be the focus of a decent horror movie. They’ve got massive mutton chops, comically prominent ass cheeks, and they’re the size of a toddler. They look like fancy, angry puppies. But kudos to the filmmakers for using a live monkey for like 98% of the animal’s screen time; our pal Shakma seems genuinely very pissed off, and its shrieking and flurry of limbs is surprisingly terrifying. Overall, directors Hugh Parks and Tom Logan do a pretty dang decent job of framing the coiffed primate as an actual threat. The attack scenes are downright vicious and a close-up shot of Shakma’s blood-stained maw, with sanguine slobber dripping from his lips, is pretty chilling. The monkey spends half the movie rabidly, if futilely, slamming against doors, which could be described perhaps as “hilariouscary.” However, these scenes remind you of how incredibly repetitive this flick is. The characters have absolutely no plan to deal with the mad monkey besides hiding in rooms (which is wise, since it’s a small animal that can’t operate door knobs) and then leaving the rooms (which is not as wise, since there’s a bloodthirsty baboon on the other side). Rinse, repeat until most of the cast has been monkilled. (Monkeylled? Not sure that worked as well as I wanted.) It’s kind of funny every time the film tees up some kind of payoff with the relationship between Shakma and the hero Sam, like at some point the furry dude’ll remember he loved his human pal before he injected him with rage, but then every time Sam tries to talk down Shakma later on, the monkey’s just like “Fuuuuuck you!” and attacks anyway. This happens three or four times. Like I said: repetitive. Although there’s near-zero character development or plot, this movie is a fun trifle. The cast is watchable, the music isn’t bad at all, and the fury of this baboon is impressive to witness; it’s legitimately awe-inspiring to see Shakma vehemently destroy any object within grabbing distance of his tiny mitts, as if each had personally called him an asshole. (Frankly, if that beaker he just smashed against the wall HAD called him an asshole, it wouldn’t have been wrong. That baboon’s a fucking asshole.)

Overall rating: 6 out of 10