In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro

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.

My review was written in April 1986 after watching the film at a Times Square screening room.

Filmed over two years ago in Kenya, "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro" is an old-fashioned adventure thriller in the borderline horror genre of a last-stand-at-the-house against predators, previously essayed in such films as "Kingdom of the Spiders", "Savage Harvest" and "Roar". Box office outlook is weak.

A famine has caused the 90,000 baboons on a Kenya wildlife reservation to begin banding together an preying on humans (film claims on-screen to be base on a true story, but the 1984 date given is impossible). Wildlife ranger John (Jack to his friends) Ringtree -played by Timothy Bottoms, wants to evacuate the area of about 200 people but the government and manager of the local mine Chris Tucker (John Rhys-Davies) view him as an alarmist and oppose his efforts. As usual in corny horror films like this one, the cast (especially female) is given to wandering alone in the bush long after word of animal attacks has been announced, making them easy prey.

Eventually the danger comes close to home and all survivors huddle together in a hotel run by Michele Carey. The last stand against the marauding animals is successful and a convenient rainstorm spells the end of the drought and the problem.

Hokey film benefits from atmospheric location photography, but suffers from sometimes inaudible dialog recorded in direct sound. Rhys-Davies uses a prop-cigar and a new accent in a fun job as a villain, but by the final reels he has become a true-blue good guy, with only the baboons as hissable targets. Bottoms is merely okay as the bland hero, Irene Miracle is extremely glamorous as his "please come home with met to America" nagging wife (in a role reserved decades ago in these films for Elsa Martinelli) and it's fun to see 1960s starlet Michele Carey again, as the friendly neighborhood hotelier. Leonard Trolley is so hammy as an old British colonial type recalling the good old days that one wishes he had been fed to the baboons early on.

Director Raju Patel substitutes gore effects for suspense in an episodic presentation that fails to knit individual scenes together. Unconvincing matte shots are used to show hundreds of baboons storming down from the hills, while more manageable stagings of a dozen or o animals are used to enact the attacks on humans. Situation inevitably conjures up memories of Cy Endfield's minor 1965 classic "Sands of the Kalahari", but instead of that film's genuinely chilling climax of the baboons descending in long shot on the surviving protagonist (which left the horror to one's imagination), we now get severed limbs, half-eaten faces and torsos and other ineffective gimmicks.

If you've ever wondered why the Scotti Brothers music company didn't last long when they tried their hand in cinema, this movie would be a good place to start. It's hard to believe this actually got released widely enough that Siskel and Ebert took the time to review it on their show (both giving it thumbs down.) Poorly photographed, atrociously edited, and with a plot that's more of an idea than an actual story, given how little is done with anything that comes up. The gore sequences, while explicit, come off as a desperate attempt to entertain more than anything else. There is one eye-catching visual (during the flat tire sequence) that will get your attention and make you wonder how they did it. But unless you also happen to like seeing talented actors of some fame get humiliated, it's not worth the effort to see. Though afterwards you will be able to say truthfully, "I saw Timothy Bottoms' bottom!"

We've certainly seen our share of killer primate movies. From 'Monkey Shines: An Experiment in fear' to 'Link', 'Shakma' and 'In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro'. (I'm not mentioning 'Congo' and 'King Kong' here because they weren't real animals). 'In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro' is undoubtedly one of the most realistic and terrifying of all.

Based on fact, the film depicts the moment when thousands of baboons turned to humans as food substitute during a drought. Entirely filmed on location in Kenya, this adds to the realism of the movie (so sad to think 'filmed on location' will soon be a thing of the past with the ever-growing use of CGI...).

Timothy Bottoms stars as ranger Jack Ringtree, whose wife Lee (Irene Miracle) comes to visit him begging to come home. Her timing couldn't have been worse, as all hell is about to break loose. Nearby, a mining company run by Chris Tucker (John Rhys-Davies) encounters several problems while running out of contract time, but things are about to get much worse as the baboons descent on the small town.

The attack scenes are brutal, realistic and simply terrifying. The use of real baboons makes it all the more scarier and the suspense is nail-biting. This is the stuff nightmares are made of!

'In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro' is one of my all-time favourite and most memorable 80's horror films.

Would I watch it again? Absolutely!

"In The Shadow of Kilimanjaro" has a lot of good things going for it. The story, like every script that is based on true events, has some facts embellished but is convincing and flows well. The basic premise is that in Kenya in 1984, there was this "perfect storm" of events that lead to a terrifying spectacle. A severe drought killed off much of the vegetation and small animals in the country. What it didn't kill were thousands of baboons, which eventually turned into hungry mobs, devouring anything in their path, including humans.

The animal training and the shots of wildlife are really amazing, lending a lot of credibility to the story. There are literally hundreds of animals on the screen and you think to yourself that the shots of these apes all running in one direction must have been stock footage or computer effects but no. There was extensive work when the film was made to train all of these animals to perform for some key scenes in the movie that are quite impressive.

The film almost plays like a zombie film, with hordes of man-eating creatures who can't be reasoned with just waiting for the time to strike and in that aspect the film can be quite effective. Where it doesn't quite work is that the film doesn't go far enough into the horror genre, with many shots of potentially shocking attacks being abruptly cut. This might have been done for budgetary reasons, but nonetheless they leave you wanting so much more than they deliver. The ending also comes very abruptly and isn't quite as satisfying as it should be. The film is nevertheless quite good and if you're a fan of zombie films, this is one of those stories that didn't want to be a variation on the genre, but ended up being on. If you've ever wanted to see a good animal-based horror story, look no further. (On VHS, October 5, 2012)