Shakma (1990)

Shakma (also known as Panic in the Tower) is a 1990 American horror film directed by Tom Logan and Hugh Parks. It stars Christopher Atkins, Amanda Wyss, Ari Meyers and Roddy McDowall battling a baboon which has been driven insane by an experimental drug. Despite negative reviews, the film has achieved a small cult audience.

Plot
Sam (Atkins) is a medical student performing an experiment on Shakma, a hamadryas baboon, at a medical school run by Professor Sorenson (McDowall). His experimental drug is supposed to make the creature less aggressive, but it ends up having the opposite effect and Sam must euthanize the animal. Sorenson wants to perform an autopsy, so orders Sam not to cremate the animal. Sam, fond of the beast, merely sedates him. In doing so, Sam injects the wrong drug into him. Afterwards Shakma remains alive, and highly aggressive, unbeknownst to all.

That night, Sorenson organizes a live-action role playing game for Sam and his friends—Gary, Bradley and Richard—and love interest Tracy (Wyss). The objective of the game is to reach Richard's baby sister Kim (Meyers) on the top floor. The players are issued walkie-talkies to communicate with each other, but the communications must go through Sorenson.

As the game begins, Shakma wakes up, escapes and kills Sorenson. With the game master dead, the players can no longer communicate. The doors to the offices are all locked, so the telephones are inaccessible. Shakma is able to access the elevators to reach different floors of the medical building, resulting in the deaths of all but one person playing. Shakma is ultimately burned to death by the final surviving teenager.

Cast

 * Christopher Atkins as Sam
 * Amanda Wyss as Tracy
 * Ari Meyers as Kim
 * Roddy McDowall as Sorenson
 * Rob Edward Morris as Gary (as Robb Morris)
 * Tre Laughlin as Bradley
 * Greg Flowers as Richard
 * Ann Kymberlie as Laura
 * Donna Jarrett as Brenda

Production
The monkey playing Shakma is called Typhoon and was handled by Gerry Therrien of Action Animals. Although the title might be read to indicate it is a chacma baboon, Typhoon was actually a hamadryas baboon. Actress Amanda Wyss was terrified of the animal. Filming took place at Universal Studios Florida.

Release
Shakma had a limited theatrical run before being released on VHS in 1990. It would get a barebones budget DVD release on October 16, 2007, and a more substantial Blu-ray version from Screen Archives Entertainment under its Code Red label in 2013. This edition features an interview with director Tom Logan, commentary by Logan and David Decoteau, and host segments by Katarina Waters. It was only released in a limited 3000-copy print run. A DVD with the same features came out on October 13, 2015.

In April 2015, Shakma was made available on streaming video from Shout! Factory. It is also available on Amazon Video and was once on Netflix. A new HD master of Shakma was released by Code Red DVD on Blu-ray in a limited edition of 3000.

Reception
Critical reception for Shakma was highly negative upon its release, with many panning the film's weak humor, shoddy effects, and flat direction. Eric Snyder of MTV criticized the film's extended dull stretches, weak characters, soundtrack, and poorly executed attack sequences. Kurt Dahlke from DVD Talk panned the film, awarding it 1.5 out of a possible 5 stars, writing, "While it might sound delightfully bad, Shakma's tale of a murderous monkey knocking off role-playing med-students pisses on the line between so-bad-it's-good and downright insulting with  willful disobedience. It's not funny, scary, or much of anything more than bewildering and tiresome." Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, stating that the film "veers between the creepy and the profoundly silly", also noting that the role-playing aspect was "painfully dated". Katie Rife of The A.V. Club called the film "standard" and criticized the film's "laughable" dialogue, role-playing sub-plot, and acting.

Dread Central rated the film a score of 2.5 out of 5, stating that the film's camp value was its primary source of entertainment. The film was listed on IFC's "The 25 best Animal Attacks in Movie History", stating that the film was "Pretty stupid as these things go, but at least it gives it the old college try". Regardless, the film has gained a small cult following over the years.