I hesitate to criticize foreign films too harshly because what we see is a dubbed version that has undergone who knows what changes in coming to an American audience. But compared to the way that films by Fulci and Argento have such power despite the translation process, PANIC is simply a mess.<br /><br />This is the kind of movie that a first year film student should have been able to make. This isn't complicated and doesn't require a lot of sophistication from writers or the director.<br /><br />There's a lab in England doing medical research. Something goes terribly wrong and there's an awful accident. One of the scientists disappears. We find that he's mutated into a horrible monster that avoids the light...not so much because he's photosensitive as that the makeup isn't really all that convincing when seen in full light.<br /><br />The hero investigates with the help of a beautiful blonde scientist who has a really bad perm. We have the setpieces of the monster attacking various people. First, predictably, a couple smooching in their car. A woman in the shower. The audience at a cinema (the monster comes bursting through the screen, a rather nice touch). A priest and a group of children in a church. A drunk stumbling down the street. A family in their home.<br /><br />We know these people are going to be attacked by the monster because, with the exception of the family in the last attack- the father is involved with the research project- they have no connection with the story other than being potential monster chow. We at least see the children and the priest in one scene prior to their being chased by the monster. The others are simply dropped into the narative for no purpose other than being chased and possibly caught by the monster.<br /><br />Since there seems to be no way to stop the monster (which is carrying an awful disease) the military decrees that if the situation isn't contained by a certain time, the town will be destroyed.<br /><br />OK. I could write this. So could most people reading this review.<br /><br />What kills PANIC is that it's dull and unexciting. When a director can't wring any suspense from the plight of a group of small children locked in a church while a priest tries to find a way to save them, it's time to go into a new line of work.<br /><br />There's no sense of urgency. The military rolls into town and cuts off communication with the outside world for days but this happens in a vacuum. The hero returns to the cinema and is attacked by the monster. The local police come in with guns blazing. The monster vanishes around a corner and nobody seems in a hurry to catch him.<br /><br />People in the town make halfhearted attempts at getting out but they must not have any relatives or friends in other places. There's unconvincing talk of a "military exercise" but this goes on for days and we don't see anyone wondering why they can't contact anyone in this town. Today a town of any size being cut off would attract an army of reporters at the barricades within hours.<br /><br />Continuity is, at best, peculiar. We meet the priest at rehearsal for the children's choir. He gives them candy and tells them to be careful on the way home. We expect the next scene to show us one or more children in danger, but we don't see them again for days. There's a guinea pig that's escaped from the lab, too. It's found in a sewer. People are like "how remarkable" and "dang, look at that" but it's never mentioned again.<br /><br />There's a subplot about a series of tunnels supposedly built by the Romans that connect the cinema, the church, the house where the family is attacked and other sites but that's introduced and dropped. The American horror film THE BOOGENS made effective use of monsters that terrorized a town where mining had been the main industry. The subplot is mentioned then dropped, as if the writers just didn't know what to do with it. Pity.<br /><br />The most fun in this is watching the Spanish and Italian actors pretending to be British (all dubbed, of course) and the director trying to convince us that the stock footage of England is a match for the city streets we see. Too many of the actors just don't look British, especially the soldiers.<br /><br />The leading man is from New Zealand. The blonde lady scientist is from Sweden. Were there two people on the set who spoke the same language? I hope so.<br /><br />This was in the CHILLING CLASSICS collection from Mill Creek. The picture quality was adequate, the sound less so. The IMDb didn't tell me the original picture ratio. This is full screen, and often action at the edges of the screen is lost. If this was originally in Panavision ration (1:2.35) it should have been letter-boxed. The closing titles would indicate that this was the intended screen ratio. Of course distributors of DVD's are limited to what they can get their hands on.<br /><br />It's not in me to call people "bad" actors (something other reviewers in this page have made a point of because of a comment made by the leading man that leaves this avenue wide open. I've done enough acting and directing on stage to know that you've got to consider the material and how strongly directed the actor is. These folks seem to have been largely left to their own devices. At the end of every scene you can imagine the actors saying, "Well, that's over. Let's go get some coffee." Francis Ford Coppola said that if there is no passion, there is no art. The director of PANIC has no visible passion for the project, so I didn't see any art.