Director: Tonino Ricci
Year: 1982
Country: Italy/Spain
Alternate Titles: Bakterion; Monster of Blood
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After an accident in their facility, the staff of a government testing facility learns it was caused by a scientist’s exposure to a deadly virus that has mutated into a deformed monstrosity that has escaped and begins terrorizing the city forcing them to call in the military to handle the situation.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty fun monster-on-the-loose style genre effort. One of the better elements present here is the somewhat enjoyable setup that keeps this going along rather nicely. As this one starts immediately on the lab accident and the resulting aftermath that follows in terms of not just the internal investigation that reveals the actual escape and situation being presented so we know what’s going on before the film starts with the police investigation into the disappearance and strange murders taking place, there’s a frantic energy here. The use of the military intervention due to the presence of the viral outbreak and the potential for containing more of the area around him comes about logically with both sides coming together early on to provide a fun and fast starting point.
As a result, there’s a lot of fun to be had here with the work involving the creature rampaging through the community. The first scenes here where he attacks the date in their parked car or the housewife at home offer fine stalking scenes where the creature’s point-of-view for the sequence not only keeps the identity a secret but also has the suspense of the concept. That provides the kind of starting point for bigger, more high-energy setups in the attack on the movie theater, chasing the stragglers from the church service, or the attack at the house that favors the idea of using the ferocity and intensity in his arsenal for some enjoyable outcomes. Since it all leads into the tense and suspenseful finale where they trap him in the underground sewers and try to put their plan into motion, it all comes together with solid and cheesy gore for a lot to like.
There are some big issues here that hold it down. The majority of the flaws here are spent on the inherently sloppy and underwhelming military intervention into the story that brings about several big problems. This whole section is clunky and awkward with the cliched panic button-hitting-while-shutting-out-civilians angle that runs throughout the first half as the need to stop the viral spread which has some undermining qualities while also making no connection to quarantine being in effect which would’ve brought so many eyes to the area it renders the whole thing questionable. As well, this also highlights some rather dragging pacing as the constant conferences to get everything cleared up so all of this has plenty of issues with purpose and pacing. These factors are what end up holding this down.
Overview: ***/5
A slightly underwhelming but still really fun genre effort, there’s enough here to make for a watcable at best genre effort as the flaws do hold it back enough compared to the solid positives here. Those that enjoy this style or the period of Eurohorror will like this the most while most others out there should heed caution.
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