Panic (1983 film)

Panic
Italian film poster
Directed byTonino Ricci
Written by
  • Víctor Andrés Catena
  • Jaime Comas Gil
Produced byMarcello Romeo
StarringDavid Warbeck
Janet Agren
CinematographyGiovanni Bergamini
Edited byVincenzo Tomassi [it]
Music byMarcello Giombini
Production
companies
  • European Films Distribuzione
  • Nuova Galassia Film
  • Arco Films
Release dates
  • March 24, 1983 (1983-03-24) (Bologna)
  • August 5, 1985 (1985-08-05) (Spain)
Running time
90 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • Spain

Panic (Italian: Bakterion) is a 1983 science fiction horror film directed by Tonino Ricci, and starring David Warbeck and Janet Agren. It was an Italian and Spanish co-production.

Plot summary

A scientist is accidentally mutated into a blood-drinking monster by the pathogens upon which he was experimenting. The government, fearful that the disease may be contagious, orders an airstrike of the small town where the monster operates. With the lives of over a thousand people on the line, a lone agent must race against time to kill the monster before the airstrike takes place.

Cast

Production

It was an Italian and Spanish co-production between the Rome-based companies European Films Distribuzione and Nuova Galassia Film and the Madrid-based Arco Film. Along with Hell of the Living Dead (1980) and Nightmare City (1981) one of the handful of Italian and Spanish co-productions of the era about accidents caused by scientists that lead to attacks from monsters.

An entire sequence of Panic was re-used in the later film, Il mostro di Firenze  [it] a film that went through several production problems and only released on home video years after its release.

Release and reception

Panic was released in Bologna as Bakterion in Italy on March 24, 1983. The film grossed 290 million Italian lire. The film was also released as being part of the Zombie film series, as Zombi 4 in Greece.[citation needed] It was released in Spain on August 5, 1985 as Pánico.

In 1984, the Paris-based La Saison cinématographique reviewed the film saying its screenplay was confusing and incoherent and found that it was relatively soft in terms of gory special effects and lacking depth in its ecological themes. The reviewer summarized that it was a film to be forgotten nearly immediately.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bakterion (1982)". Archivio del cinema italiano (in Italian). ANICA [it]. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Curti, Roberto (2022). Italian Giallo in Film and Television. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 382–383. ISBN 978-1-4766-8248-8.
  3. 1 2 Madrid, Débora. Creaciones (in)humanas (in Spanish). Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. p. 49. ISBN 978-84-9044-536-5. ISSN 2792-4645.
  4. 1 2 3 Chiti, Roberto; Poppi, Roberto; Lancia, Enrico (2000). Dizionario del cinema italiano: Dal 1980 Al 1989 A/L (in Italian). Vol. 5. Gremese. p. 64. ISBN 88-7742-423-0.
  5. ↑ "Programmazioni Cinematografichie nella stagione 1982-83" [Film Programme for the 1982–83 Season]. Giornale dello Spettacolo [it] (in Italian). Vol. XXXIX, no. 15. Rome, Italy. April 15, 1983. p. 15.
  6. ↑ Cebollada, Pascual; Gil, Luis Rubio (1996). Enciclopedia del Cine Español: Cronología (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Spain: Ediciones del Serbal. p. 26. ISBN 84-7628-170-6.