City in Panic (1986) User Reviews

"Talk Radio" meets "The New York Ripper"

[Jonny_Numb · 5/10 · 30 January 2003]

In its own low-down, exploitative way, "City in Panic" keeps your attention. An obviously low-budget slasher which distinguishes itself from the dime-a-dozen crowd by frankly introducing themes of AIDS and homosexuality into the story (you don't see that today, let alone in the 1980's). The murder scenes are very gory and well-done. The plot is fairly simple: a radio talk-show host becomes the pillar of sanity in a city where a serial killer is at work, and he is the one who will ultimately unmask the murderer. The director's muddled message is frustrating, though--even though the last scene makes a case for tolerance and responsibility, is that supposed to justify all the gay-bashing and AIDS paranoia that's gone on before (not to mention a very ghastly castration)? "City in Panic" isn't high moral theater, nor is it an insightful look at AIDS or homosexuality, but as a slasher film, it keeps moving along and is never dull.

5/10

Dial M for Moronic

[Coventry · 4/10 · 30 September 2023]

"City in Panic" is one of the most obscure and unknown slashers of the 80s decade, but make no mistake, it's obscure and unknown for a good reason and it's not at all a hidden gem! The plot most certainly has potential, as it touches upon relevant and sensitive social themes, but the execution is so pathetic and miserably poor it makes your eyes and ears hurt.

The city of Toronto is plagued by a sadist serial killer who targets homosexual men, or perhaps just people with AIDS, and nastily carves the letter "M" in the victims' bodies with a sharp knife. The police are as incompetent as they are terrible at acting, and an incredibly annoying radio host commences to provoke the killer live in his late-night talk show.

The film might be dreadful, but it must be said: the murders are vile, sick, and extremely gore! The first kill is almost an exact copy of the infamous shower sequence in "Psycho", and the homophobic slasher subsequently also drives over a male stripper, cuts up an upside-down macho in the gym, and - top of the bill - mercilessly castrates a security guard through a glory hole! That was fantastic and deserves an extra rating point, as far as I'm concerned. The script also has the decency to refer to Fritz Lang's milestone "M" and features a character that is named "Dr. Farthing". I'm not kidding.

Very cheap slasher movie that certainly took the wrong cinematic approach

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 3/10 · 21 August 2005]

This little-known Canadian slasher was virtually castrated by many movie-fans that believed it was discriminatingly offensive and homophobic. Obviously Robert Bouvier's point was lost somewhere in translation, because City in Panic was attempting to make an admittedly ham-fisted social comment on one of the eighties' biggest discussion points – the HIV virus. That's not to say that Bouvier deserves any recognition for this effort. But at least people should be able to judge the film without feeling insulted by the somewhat fragile plot line. Any severe medical condition should certainly be handled with care and consideration by a filmmaker that is attempting to incorporate such delicate topics into a screenplay. That's why I am going to base this review on the feature's strengths and weaknesses as a motion picture and not pass comment on the poorly handled synopsis.

The mood is set in the first few minutes as Bouvier attempts a role reversal on Hitchcock's notorious shower scene. A hulking killer sporting a fedora, dark glasses and typical giallo-like psycho-garb bursts into a bathroom and hacks an unfortunate guy to death with a kitchen knife. Before leaving, the maniac carves the letter 'M' into his back with the aforementioned blade. This becomes the macabre calling card of the maniacal assassin and also the name that he is known by. Next up we meet Dave Miller (David Adamson) a radio talk show host that immediately takes an interest in the madman's motives. As the bodies continue to pile up around the city, Dave decides to set a trap using his popular broadcast as the bait. Eventually, the killer himself phones the show and begins to slaughter people that are close to the presenter. Is Miller next on the death list?

City in Panic started with a protagonist narrative that was vaguely reminiscent of the maverick cop thrillers of the seventies. The seedy depiction of a sleazy town in peril also adds weight to the case that Bouvier was as much a fan of Taxi Driver as he was of Halloween. To be fair there are times when the atmosphere becomes credibly morbid and some of the gruesome murders are brutal if not graphically plausible enough to rival the greatest gore marathons. I was also fairly intrigued by some of the innovative photography that certainly transcended the miniscule budget in places. Glimpses of suspense were credibly juxtaposed with moments of macabre mayhem, which peaked in one scene with the repugnant castration of one unfortunate victim. After having his 'Johnson' chopped off by the killer, the guy is left to spray blood all over the toilet walls like a wayward sprinkler system. The scene itself would have been effectively gruesome if it hadn't been so poorly constructed, which accurately sums up the net result of this feature.

Unfortunately despite being ambitious, Bouveir didn't have the budget – or the talent – to pull off anything other than mindless mediocrity. The appalling dramatics fail to convince on even the lowest level, which immediately destroys any sense of realism being created. Watch out for the hilariously inept Chiico (Derek Emery), who proves that even those without an ounce of talent can still get screen time in a motion picture. An offering with such a strong topical standing needs professional scripting to make a real impact. Andreas Blackwell's confused screenplay is so bemusingly sketchy that it leaves characters contradicting themselves. The glossy veneer of intellectual dialogue soon becomes easily transparent as nonsensical banter. The fact that City in Panic seems to have been written by morons probably means that it will only ever appeal to morons. At one point the investigator says, "Now I began to accept that the city had on its hands a serial killer". Only problem was that it took him four mutilated corpses to finally work that out. Go figure. The soundtrack seems to have been recorded using a $10 Bontempi keyboard and it does absolutely * nothing * to add to the mood of the feature. Although I disagree that the plot was deliberately homophobic (one of the victims is female and another 's heterosexual), I guess I can understand why some gay people might have thought it was a little mean-spirited towards their sexuality. The majority of the victims were homosexual and they were all sadistically tortured. But I guess in a way it's like accusing Friday the 13th of discrimination against teenagers.

I'm somewhat surprised that so many people have made a fuss about City in Panic. It's far too mindlessly scripted to be offensive and too weakly structured to be controversial. Director Robert Bouvier's biggest mistake was that he clumsily but surely unintentionally exploited one of the most tragic diseases that mankind has ever known. But despite an extremely limp social commentary, this never gets boring and the viscous murders are spaced quite frequently all the way through. As a lowbrow piece of slasher hokum this could've been a passable entry to the cycle. It's just a shame that the filmmakers took the wrong approach

Wanna be slasher - fails big time.

[pkzeewiz · 2/10 · 11 January 2010]

I have this movie under the name 13 and thought it was a slasher when I bought it. I admit I wasn't expecting it to be good, but I thought it would be better than this.

It is a bout a serial killer stalking the streets killing aids victims, but its from 1986 so I guess Aids was a more taboo subject in film back then. Nowadays the killers motives would still apply I guess but this movie just didn't make me care for the victims or anything. It also has its main character as a late night talk radio host and thats where most of the movie is focused on his boring life.

I mean I have seen much worse and it didn't kill me to watch it, it was actually my second time watching this film. I would not however recommend it to anyone.

The acting isn't bad to be honest, all no names of course but they didn't do too bad. The production values were just average for a movie this low budget. I didn't notice any huge obvious mistakes or anything.

The first murder in the movie although of a man in a shower, was a rip off of Psycho in close detail. From the blood going down the drain, to the way the shower curtain rips to the pulling away from the eyeball shot. I don't know if I should applaud or curse that.

Don't waste your time with this one it does have lots of blood, there are many murders and it is a slasher in theory, but its just not that great of a movie. You have been warned, but if you have seen every slasher film out there and still want more then perhaps you should give it a look.

Pluses and minuses.

[punishmentpark · 5/10 · 14 September 2015]

This low-budget vehicle has obvious references to 'M' (1931), 'Psycho' (1960) and 'Killer's kiss' (1955). The soundtrack is one of the most monotonous soundtracks of all time, but, more importantly, it hardly ever works. The far-fetched plot may be a little more understandable when considering the time in which it was made.

The story is worked out pretty well, and the main character development was quite strong. In the first hour there are some pretty good kills, but then it all changes. The film becomes something of a thriller-drama with a fine denouement.

But then there's the big problem of the poor, poor acting. Those 'serious' reflections of the protagonist on the radio were hard to sit through.

All things considered: 5 out of 10.

AIDS slasher

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 17 October 2020]

City In Panic has a poster that looks like a giallo - well, it's not as gorgeously designed as a traditional Italian poster, but the killer sure looks like he stepped off the set of a movie made in 1973 with an animal-based title - and makes the AIDS crisis a major part of its story, which is pretty woke for 1986. That said, it's filled with so many homophobic moments and slurs that this will be the last time that I say that this movie has anything to do with being culturally sensitive*.

There aren't many direct to video Canadian slashers that are willing to rip off - sorry, pay homage - to Fritz Lang while looking cheaper than any made for TV movie you've seen. That's this movie, which was originally titled The AIDS Murders. The Lang steal is because the murderer, much like Peter Lorre, leaves an "M" behind on their victims (notice that I was PC in my pronoun usage, but really, I was trying to not spoil who the killer was).

Unlike every slasher ever, gay men are the targets here, with the first man being killed in the shower of Toronto's Oak Leaf Steam Bath. Yes, this is a film either brave or foolish enough to start things off by shamelessly aping Hitchcock.

It's also one of the only slashers I can think of where a slasher is opposed by a final boy, a shock jock who constantly argues on the air with right wingers.

Beyond being somewhere between slasher and giallo - that ending in a mannequin factory almost made me label it the latter - this is also a "based on a true story" movie, as it was inspired by the real-life murders of 14 gay men that all frequented the St. Charles Tavern on Yonge Street in Toronto.

*That said, several of the victims aren't stereotypically gay, which is refreshing.

M for Mundane

[NightOfTheLivingDon · 1/10 · 25 January 2008]

I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I HAVE to write a comment for probably the worst movie I have ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I love trashy movies. However, CITY IN PANIC is just trash. I mean that in the most literal of senses. I found this VHS in a heap of trash while doing my annual "End of the Year Dorm Dumpster Dive." See, at my alma marta, the end to every hallway would be FULL of junk that residents would leave behind after the school year was over. A couple of friends and I would always peruse the mess for some hidden gems. Mostly it was all junk, but every once in a while you find something cool. Like a whiskey bible or a Wayne's World Dice Game. And sometimes you'd just find garbage, like a VHS copy of CITY IN PANIC. Man, I should have figured...

The movie seems to have been made by a group of high school freshmen who just found out what sexual discrimination is, and thought that they were really "pushing the envelope" by involving a taboo subject such as AIDS. Ugh. Nothing in this movie works, and the only reason why the ending is a surprise is because you stopped caring about figuring anything out. Halfway through the thing, you can't even hear it over the sounds of your own prayers for an end to the cruelty emanating from the television.

I would end this review with something along the lines of "Stay away from this movie at all cost," but just the simple fact that you are reading this means that it is too late. I can see no reason why anyone would search out this movie unless they had already had the misfortune of viewing it. Sorry guy. We've got meetings on Friday at 9pm over at the Rec Center. Punch and pie.

The first gay slasher?

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 18 May 2010]

A serial killer stalks homosexuals leaving his victims with an 'M' carved on their skin.Late-night radio host Dave Miller is asked by the police to challenge the maniac by provoking him to call his show."City in Panic" is a mildly interesting slasher obviously inspired by "Psycho" and Fritz Lang's "M".The killings are pretty bloody and mean-spirited for example a security guard is castrated and then stabbed to death in a toilet."City in Panic" reminded me a little bit "Perfect Victims" about AIDS-infected rapist.The gay community is not shown in a positive light.If you are 80's slasher completist check this obscure film out.7 out of 10.

City In Panic

[HorrorFan1984 · 6/10 · 29 August 2021]

City in Panic

We first get introduced to a major city (similar to Toronto in Canada), where a gay man man exits a bath house. An unseen assailant follows him home to his downtown apartment and slaughters him in the shower, very 'Psycho' like. After that we hear the voice of a radio host named Dave who rivals another radio host named Alex Ramsey. He talks about the serial killer who goes by the name of "M" that has been wandering around the city murdering men. The reason for the name "M" is that the stalker slashes that letter into the skin of each victim.

The killer then attacks a male stripper by running him over violently with a car and then stabbing over a dozen times. After that, the film starts up the feud of Dave versus Alex in their radio feud. The entire film we get the narration from Dave Miller and how his main goal was to reassure the public instead of instil fear into them. After a series of more vicious killings, the police realize that "M" is targeting people who have AIDS and are being sexually active without safety. "M' believes that they are saving society and doing heroic work. Can the person be stopped?

I enjoyed a lot of what City in Panic gave the viewers. There was this creepy stalker attacking citizens from the city of Toronto (my hometown) in very gruesome ways. I caught a ton of filming locations such as the Gooderham Building, the Oak Leaf steam baths on Bathurst street, and the overall skyline of the city shown constantly. It's always fun for me to notice those kinds of things since I live in the city. The Toronto AIDS pandemic of the 80's played a big part in the story here, as mostly all of the victims who were killed in this one were gay men. The idea of having the victims be men was an interesting concept for an 80's horror film

All in all, City in Panic was avery enjoyable and low budget slasher from the mid-80's. One of the murders as extremely gruesome in thought was a security guard who decides to use the "glory hole" in a public washroom and ends up having his "you know what" cut off. Pretty horrific for a Canadian low budget film, I found the whole thing pretty well done.

6/10.