or Zombie IV: Bakterion

Director: Tonino Ricci
Cast: David Warbeck, Janet Agren
Screenplay: Victor Andrés Catena, Jaime Comas Gil
90 mins. Not Rated.

I’ve always been fascinated by disconnected film series and the overseas market. Most notably in Italy, copyright laws are more flexible and, in many ways, it’s very easy to make a “sequel” to just about anything. The biggest example of this is the Zombi franchise, originally occurring when Dario Argento held final cut for the European Cut of Dawn of the Dead, releasing it as Zombi, and then Lucio Fulci made an unrelated film that was retroactively released as Zombi 2. An entire franchise of disconnected sequels occurred for Zombi sequels, and in some cases, those films had multiple films released as sequels. See my Letterboxd list of The Incredibly Convoluted Zombie Series for my complete-ish list. Such is the case with Panic, which was released in Australia as Zombie IV: Bakterion or in Greece simply as Zombie 4.

Professor Adams has been experimenting with dangerous pathogens when one of his tests goes awry and he’s covered in and mutated by the bacteria. He’s horribly deformed by the accident and evolves into a blood-drinking zombie-like creature who maneuvers in the shadows around town, killing and feeding off the flesh of young unsuspecting victims. The lives of thousands are at risk, and with the military contemplating using Plan Q, an airstrike to level the town, it’s up to Captain Kirk (David Warbeck, The Beyond) to stop the monstrous Professor Adams before the town is reduced to rubble.

True to form, a lot of these films are notable only for their nebulous connection to a much more famous work; this is the case with Panic, a movie that technically features a creature that behaves like a zombie while really just being a mutated professor. I’ll give it this: when the monstrous Professor Adams is onscreen, it’s a pretty effective little chiller. It falls prey to some of the noteworthy slasher failings like uninteresting victims, but director Tonino Ricci (Night of the Sharks) throws in a bunch of sex scenes to pad the run time before the sluggish shambling creature makes its presence known. There are a few effective scares, one involving the monster grabbing a man mid-car-coitus and ripping him out the car window by his head in a shot that feels similar to the Nancy’s Mom shocker from the final scenes of A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s another shock scene in a movie theater (with perhaps the most uncomfortable-looking seats I’ve ever seen). The monster has a cool, disgusting visage that even works on some of the lousier transfers of the film where you can’t see too much.

The monster is great…when he’s onscreen. Unfortunately, he’s not there much. Imagine seeing this after the diabolical Dawn of the Dead (Zombi) and Fulci’s Zombi 2 and Zombi 3 and realizing that there’s really only one monster and he’s rarely represented; I don’t like to use comparisons between sequels and their predecessors (especially when the connection is nonexistent), but what a letdown that moment would be. David Warbeck, and even Janet Agren (Hands of Steel) are both bankable enough in these schlocky outings, but their characters are written so bland here, and without the Plan Q timer, there would be no forward momentum to Panic. The ending feels like it’s going to be grand and intense and suspense, but instead the tension is blown by poor direction and a climax that’s a non-starter, passing like a fart in the wind.

Panic’s a bad movie, made all the worse when seen through the lens of Greek and German filmgoers and the comparisons to much better, or at least far more exciting and entertaining predecessors. The monster effects for Professor Adams are excellent and gross, but it’s not enough to hold the short run time through to the end, which is disappointingly weak. Monster fans will enjoy the effects when they are there, but all others likely need not apply.

2/5
-Kyle A. Goethe