1990s Shakma is a mildly entertaining bit of “nature run amok” genre fare.
Despite apparently getting a small theatrical run, Shakma has the air of director-to-video schlock all over it. It received pretty much universally terrible reviews, but has since become a very minor cult hit.
The film is about a Baboon, named Shakma, who is driven mad by an experimental drug used by a group of med students of their teacher. Thought dead, Shakma awakens to slaughter the group of students as they lock themselves in their building overnight for a session of live fantasy role playing.
Given the synopsis, I assumed the films narrative would lean into the trope of “man should not mettle with nature” more heavily. But the “careless science” aspect of the story is merely the set-up to get the ball rolling. Shakma is literally just a slasher film with a monkey as the killer instead of a dude wielding some sort of danger implement.
Duel directed by Hugh Parks and Tom Logan, Shakma has a few nagging problems with that hold it back from achieving more solid thrills. For one, it’s 1hr and 40mins when it really should only be 1hr and 20mins. The film has a significant padding problem with a lot of repetitive scenarios and shots. There is only so many times we can see a character slowly walk down halls looking frightened before it becomes a tad tedious.
Take a shot every a character narrowly avoids Shakma by hiding behind a door while Shakma goes fuck-nuts trying to break in. You’ll be good and smashed before the credits roll.
The bland setting of the school doesn’t help matters, either. White halls and walls lead to more white halls and walls. Which, to be fair, this is a medical school…but the filmmakers don’t do enough to use the space creatively.
With a dull setting and a general lack of creativity in the attack sequences (the gory aftermath is decent though), Shakma is likely to bore a significant amount of people looking for a balls-out animal attack flick…yet despite these issues I still mostly had a good time with the film.
Why?
Well, the titular baboon, played by genuine Hollywood star Typhoon (he was in Cronenberg’s The Fly!), is one scary goddamn monkey. When he’s running around, leaping at peoples faces, and going apeshit on doors and other bits of furniture it’s surprisingly intense. The film is worth a watch to see Typhoon alone. He’s a more intimidating slasher villain than the majority of human killers in the genre…
I also got a kick of the hilarious dated role-playing aspect of the plot. It adds an extra dose of fun ironic charm to the film that it may have lacked with a more traditional set up. Also, knowing that the world of RPG’s has grown so much in the past 30 years makes the set-up here all the more enjoyable.
Another thing that took me by surprise was just how goddamn grim the movie ended up being. Usually with films of this ilk you can pinpoint who will make it out alive and who won’t almost immediately. Without spoiling anything, lets just say more than a few characters I automatically pegged as our survivors…don’t survive.
Oh, and Roddy McDowell is in this film. Go figure.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the nature goes crazy subgenre of horror films, give Shakma a watch. It’s very rough around the edges and doesn’t have the best execution at times, but it’s a mean flick with a great animal villain and some fun late 80s/early 90s silliness to smirk at. It pairs well with George Romero’s far more polished and thought-provoking Monkey Shines.
