Shakma

Shakma
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hugh Parks Tom Logan
Produced by	Hugh Parks
Screenplay by	Roger Engle
Starring	Christopher Atkins Amanda Wyss Ari Meyers Roddy McDowall
Music by	David C. Williams
Cinematography	Andrew Bieber
Edited by	Mike Palma
Distributed by	Castle Hill Productions Quest Entertainment
Release dates	October 5, 1990 (1990-10-05) (USA) April 20, 1991 (1991-04-20) (Japan)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,500,000 (Estimated)
Box office	Unknown

Shakma (also known as Panic in the Tower) is a 1990 American direct-to-video natural 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 baboon, at a med 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 it for the moment. Thus Shakma remains alive, and highly aggressive, unbeknownst to all.

That night, Soreson 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 ultimately electrocuted 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

Shakma is portrayed by Typhoon, pictured here with his trainer Gerry Therrien

The monkey playing Shakma is called Typhoon and was handled by Gerry Therrien of Action Animals.^[1] 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.^[2]

Filming took place at Universal Studios Florida.^[3]

Release

Shakma had a limited theatrical run beside its release on VHS in 1990.^[4] It would get a barebones budget DVD release on October 16, 2007,^[5] 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.^[6][7]

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.^[8]

Reception

Reviews for Shakma were highly critical, pointing out the weak humor, shoddy effects and flat direction. Eric Snider of MTV.com called Shakma a "bad movie".^[9] The A.V. Club called it a "standard" genre film, finding the role-playing plot gimmicky and ultimately superfluous.^[10] TV Guide concurred.^[11] Shakma has nevertheless made it onto several lists highlighting animal-attack films.^[12][13]

Commentators have noted the excessive number of sequences in which Shakma throws himself against closed doors.^[10][4]

In 2014, Shakma was featured in an episode of RedLetterMedia's Best of the Worst. It lost the title of "best of the worst" to Beaks: The Movie, another animal attack film starring Christopher Atkins.

References

External links

• Shakma at the Internet Movie Database
• Shakma at the TCM Movie Database