In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro (1986)

Best movie of this year hands down!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned monster movie from the '50s, crossed with then-modern lashings of special effects and gore, sounds like a sure bet for this "killer baboon rampage" movie that failed to do much business at the box office when it was first released. The reason for this is that the movie is a strictly run-of-the-mill affair without much to get excited about, and in which the most exciting moments are those spent watching huge hordes of baboons charging through the African landscape. It's supposedly a true story, and the authentic Kenyan locations and supporting actors initially give it a feel of realism, but its not long before that feeling dissipates spectacularly.Things begin well. There's an excellent battle between rhinos and jeeps which actually takes place for real, without the aid of special effects. After this they quickly go downhill, with the script strictly adhering to the basic monster movie template. That is, a few nonentities get killed off initially until the body count rises dramatically and the rest of the cast realises that there's a problem. The dialogue is adequate but the action is sparse. Those looking for some serious baboon vs. human fight scenes may well feel short shrifted as there are only a couple of brief shots in the film (obviously the model baboons created for the movie weren't up to prolonged camera exposure). The two action "highlights" would be NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-style situations with the baboons replacing zombies and attempting to break into a house and then finally a hotel. Sadly, these are brief indeed, and ultimately disappointing.The cast seems to be an unusually straight one for what is a simple B-movie with A-movie aspirations. The underrated John Rhys Davies, one of my favourite actors, takes the lead as an unconventional action hero. Once again he gives strength to his character, making him a warm and likable person. This is unexpected as at the beginning of the film he is set up as one of those uncaring leader-type blokes who ends up putting lives in danger and getting killed as a result. Timothy Bottoms is the young(er) hero, who disturbingly shaves off his beard halfway through the film which is quite disconcerting, especially as this action is never mentioned! You just see him again with only a moustache and end up wondering who the guy is. Irene Miracle lends copious glamour as Bottom's ex-wife, who inevitably ends up being in peril.One good thing about this film are the special effects of the dead bodies - they're unusually graphic for a mainstream movie (check out Leonard Maltin's review, where he proclaims them as "disgusting"). We see corpses with severed limbs, blood pumping from throats and in the film's gruesome highlight, a body with half of its face ripped off. The gore is minimal but it gives the film that extra oomph for the horror fan, although being a mainstream movie you can guarantee that there'll be a sentimental happy ending in sight.Elsewhere, things try to be serious and scary and end up being comical. A supposedly horrific shot of a man on a telegraph pole getting his leg ripped off by baboons is roll-on-the-floor hilarious yet apparently played for the horror aspect. A baboon attacks the pilot of a plane, causing it to crash - excuse me? After saying that this film is based on a true story this individual scene is pretty hard to swallow. Somebody also decided to shoot some of the action scenes in slow-motion, and they just look dumb and sap the film of its life. The use of a Steadicam leads to some inevitable EVIL DEAD-style 'chase' moments. The only thing I would recommend about this film is the good performance from John Rhys Davies - otherwise it's a missed opportunity and only suitable for those who really like baboons, or a monster fan stuck for something to watch.

Some of the reviews I encountered on "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro" complain that baboons aren't convincing and not nearly menacing enough to pass for murderous animals. Well, this is a false impression in general. During a recent trip to South Africa I made a couple of excursions and the first thing the tour guides always warn you for are wild baboons. They are extremely aggressive animals and if they spot people with food in their hands, they will relentlessly attack and steal it from them. I'm not familiar with the supposedly true event this movie is based on, but I find it to be quite plausible and – even in case it never happened – it's a terrific plot outline for a mature and intellectual eco-horror movie anyway. The year is 1984 and Kenya, as well as the majority of the African continent, slowly cringes under a severe drought. It hasn't rained in months, the wildlife deteriorates, the animals are dying and a local community of mine workers do whatever they can to survive. They suddenly face an even more overpowering ordeal when all the baboons in the area, approximately 90.000, herd together and launch spontaneous attacks against the humans in their quest for food. "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro" is a fairly odd and unusual 80's horror movie, since it doesn't aim for mindless shocks or bloody set-pieces, but merely thrives on atmosphere and educational values. The first half hour is really slow and moody, but this is mostly done to illustrate the atmosphere of drought and despair they characters find themselves trapped in. Once the baboons go on their virulent murder sprees, the film becomes more adventurous and horrific (with images of ripped off limbs and half-eaten faces) but still the violence never becomes gratuitous or overly exploitative. The make-up effects are effective and big kudos to the animal trainers, because a lot of footage was filmed using real animals. The mechanical baboons, used during the more complicated attack scenes, are definitely convincing as well. This mainly African-produced film features two international stars delivering more than adequate performances, namely Timothy Bottoms as a park supervisor (and kind of looking like a big ape himself, what with the ferocious beard) and John Rhys-Davies as the demanding mine owner. "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro" is a good and original film, naturally benefiting the most of the wonderful scenery and exterior filming locations, but also boosting a unique storyline and multiple moments of great suspense.

Having spent a large part of my life in Kenya, this film made me afraid to set out into the Tsavo for years. Based on Events that I remember the old people talking aboutthe film integrates those stories with just the right amountof fright!! The fear that the drought brought was displayed truthfully in this film. It captures the rugged beauty of the Kenyan countryside and people such as no other films made in Kenya have. If you have a fear of animals, this heightens it!

The basic plot of IN THE SHADOW OF KILIMANJARO (1986) is that an army of crazed, homicidal babboons are killing folks left and right in the middle of nowhere. The thing the filmmakers should of realised is that babboons always look kind of bored. An example comes in one scene where a movie character has a flat tire in the desert. We cut to shots of yawning, pre-occupied looking monkeys watch him from afar. They seem to be saying "Hoo-Hummm, I dunno, should I kill him? I don't know, rather sit here and pick flies off my fur. (Yawn....) Okay. Let me go down and kill 'em." We had a good laugh with this one.