Lee Eisenberg My 10/10 rating means that "Shakma" is so ridiculous that it's fun. It's basically an excuse for a baboon to come up with ways to kill people who had the misfortune of playing a game in a building with no way to communicate with the outside world. Roddy McDowall - himself a veteran of a certain primate-themed franchise - plays the stodgy scientist who doesn't understand the danger. And the blonde woman? That's Amanda Wyss, best known as the first victim in "A Nightmare on Elm Street". She's a real babe here.But of course the star is the aggressive simian. I guess that one could say...he goes bananas. This movie reminds us that we shouldn't, well, monkey with nature.A truly enjoyable time.

zetes Truly awful. A bunch of medical researchers secure the use of a large building for a long night of LARPing. Unfortunately, the baboon they were experimenting on earlier has gone totally nuts and escapes. Named Shakma, the baboon weeds out the LARPers one by one. When I first heard about this movie (earlier the same day I watched it), I said to myself, "Killer baboon? I'm in!" Obviously, I didn't expect it to be good, but I thought it might be worth a laugh. It isn't. It's totally freakin' boring. The film is in desperate need of an editor, first of all. It just drags and drags. But, really, the biggest problem is the baboon is not really that threatening. I'm sure he could hurt you, but I'm pretty sure I could take him. Starring Christopher Atkins, Amanda Wyss, Ari Meyers and Roddy MacDowell.

mickeyshamrock You are currently reading about an excellent (see: totally ridiculous) Saturday morning monster movie starring Amanda "Tina from A Nightmare on Elm St." Wyss and Christopher "Blue Lagoon" Atkins (among others). Sounds like a terrible movie, so why do you love it mickeyshamrock? Well, aside from the typical "so bad it's good" moments, and my raging hard on for Amanda Wyss, the baboon footage is insane. I've never seen anything like it. Shakma (aka Typhoon) literally goes ape sh*t every take. Every time the baboon is on camera it elevates this movie beyond it's B-movie shackles. Definitely to be watched in one sitting, breaking it up will only expose some of it's faults. Turn off your mind and get ready for some ape-tastic surprises.

Woodyanders Slice'n'dice fright flicks featuring glassy-eyed psycho fruitcake killers hacking up jerky teenagers with all the charisma and personality of used, parched Play Dough were all the rage in the 80's, so it was only a matter of time before some desperately reaching hack screenwriter decided to cook up a would-be "high concept" entry in the slasher horror sub-genre which substitutes a crazed, screeching bloodthirsty baboon for your usual insane, heavy-breathing sanguinary subhuman lunatic. "Shakma" is that film; it's an often unintentionally uproarious riot that isn't scary for a minute, but does manage to be hugely amusing and entertaining straight-to-video trash just the same.A bunch of bonehead college students playing a Dungeon and Dragons-type game in a high rise medical research center are stalked and killed by the titular deranged simian. Directors Tom Logan and Hugh Parks wearily go through the shopworn body count paces without ever injecting any vitality or originality into the threadbare proceedings. Roger Engle's trite script likewise skimps on the novelty, with all the creativity beginning and ending with the central gimmick of replacing a madman with a mad monkey. The baboon itself, played by the loud, irritating, uglier-than-a-horse's-a** Typhoon, proves to be more funny than fearsome (the scenes with this shrieking beast running down the halls after its victims are absolutely sidesplitting!). Most of the killings take place off screen and the gore is pretty mild. The irony of casting former "Planet of the Apes" series mainstay Roddy McDowell as your stereotypically well-meaning, but misguided scientist who's responsible for the whole bloody mess is a nice touch. The rest of the cast alas ain't so hot: onetime teen idol Christopher Atkins, the adorable Ari Meyers and Amanda Wyss (Freddy Krueger's first victim in the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street") all fail to believably bring their roles to life. All that criticism aside, this honey still qualifies as a total gut-busting campy hoot.