The Alamo had a secret screening this evening. The wife is out of town and I was bored so I figured what the hell. Turned out to be Shakma, a corny animal-gone-wild horror movie from the early 90s. Baboon (red ass and all) has its violence knob turned up to 11 by irresponsible scientists, he gets loose while a bunch of science nerds are LARPing in the hospital and proceeds to tear their faces off.
The premise is ridiculous, the characters are straight out of every 80s slasher movie (main character who needs to learn a lesson in order to save the day, power nerd, black guy, token love interest), the outfits are Saved by the Bell's wardrobe department leftovers and the main character's emotional moments (played by Christopher Atkins of Blue Lagoon fame) are embarrassing. That said, they do make this tiny little monkey seem dangerous and kind of scary... which totally shouldn't work. Some of the heavy lifting is done by the music but the baboon also seems pissed off and throws itself at doors and screams and generally acts fucking nuts in a way that's kind of unnerving. The gore isn't particularly noteworthy but the baboon largely tears people's faces off which is kind of in line with what real monkeys do (after they go for your nuts).
While I wouldn't say it's a good movie, it's a moderately effective horror movie when it's not ridiculous.