Don't Panic

The tagline of this movie is : Forget "Forget Freddie and Jason. Virgil's the newest nightmare in town". It sounds like there's a new killer that everyone should be afraid of!. When you see the cover of the movie, you realize that Virgil is a total loser! The movie is not scary, but it's your average slasher. Terrible make up, stupid situations, and a lame killer make this an avoidable film at all costs.

I admire producers that are ambitious when making a film, but the ones of this were more than ambitious, they thought they could create a scarier and meaner killer than JASON or FREDDY. Sadly, (and predictably) they failed.

Ruben Galindo is one of those sneaky Mexican exploitation directors who makes quickie-movies for the the American market. The cast is filled with fresh American faces and premise as well as atmosphere are typically US high school-like. Only... the production is entirely Mexican! This technique saves the makers a few extra bucks and the fans of this type of cinema mostly don't notice the difference anyway. However, what you can't but notice about "Don't Panic" is the amateurism. The screenplay makes no sense at all as it attempts to blend the mysteries of the occult (an Ouija-board) with an ordinary high school slasher plot. A group of brainless friends summon a demon (named Virgil...not exactly a petrifying name, if you ask me) and this demon soon after possesses one of the kids. How did this Virgil ended up inside the body of the kid?? Who knows... Why does he think it's necessary to butcher everyone who joined the Ouija game?? Not explained, neither... There's no tension and no sense of humor to detect anywhere in the script. Well...at least not intended humor, because the stupidity and incompetence definitely will make you chuckle more than once! Also, if you plan to watch this film, you're better not allergic to atrocious acting. No matter how hard these teen-actors try, they have no acting skills at all. The best part about "Don't Panic" is – as usual – the gore! Screaming Mad George went nuts again and literally stuffed this film with repulsive massacre and entire buckets of blood. I'm not an expert but I sincerely doubt that an average human body contains so much blood. Oh well, if it wasn't for these gory moments, "Don't Panic" would be completely worthless. In conclusion: this probably is one of the only films ever that feature the hero (supposedly 17 years old) battling evil whilst wearing a ridiculous and utterly childish pajamas. Respect!

I thought this supernatural slasher wasn't too bad. There were a few effective bits, and even a few suspenseful moments. The killings with the dagger are cool, and the bit where Michael is being stalked around the hospital are good. I also got a scare from the part where Virgil suddenly appears at the back window of the car. There are too many boring parts however to make this a good slasher film. If they had used more shots of Virgil stalking Michael and added some more gore, it would have been quite good. The ending is rather cheesy.

Still it's better than many slasher films I have seen so if you're a die-hard slasher fan then seek this one out.

Young Michael didn't know that by messing with an ouija board he would unleash a demon that would posses his soul and force him into the wave of terror,delivering his victims into brutal death.To prevent more bloodshed Michael must find the demon's dagger and destroy the horrendous being.Ruben Galindo's "Don't Panic" is a pretty amusing piece of Mexican horror.It offers plenty of cheese and gore.The gore effects made by Screaming Mad George are quite effective and the film has some suspenseful moments.So if you're a fan of low-budget slasher films you can't go wrong with "Don't Panic".Here is my favourite gore scene from this film:a guy has his throat slashed with a dagger.6 out of 10.

This is a generally unsuccessful attempt by low-budget Mexican filmmakers to ape the "Nightmare on Elm Street" sequels, but although it is pretty incompetent it is much more lovable than most of those overblown American cash-ins. Instead of "Fredddy" we have "Virgil" who is a Roman epic poet. . . no wait, different "Virgil"--this one is basically the Devil (or something) who has possessed the best friend of the protagonist after a Ouija board session at the protagonist's birthday party , and is using him (for some reason) to kill everyone else who was at the session, including the hero's new girlfriend. So it is up to protagonist to rescue all his friends from evil. Luckily, he has a rose that has special powers because he gave it to his girlfriend out of pure love (something like that).

This movie tries really hard to be an American movie, making the protagonist a transplanted American attending an American school in Mexico City. The school has all kinds of ridiculous signs in English, like one promising to expel any tardy students! (So naturally when they're tardy, the hero and is girlfriend decide to skip school entirely which apparently is much more acceptable). But my favorite part is the English teacher who goes on and on about Percy Blysshe Shelley, of all people, who she inaccurately says went crazy (as someone who once worked as an English teacher in Mexico, my head was left swimming). There's also a scene where the protagonist starts sharing visions with "Virgil" when he kills people, so his alcoholic mom takes him to an optometrist(!) where she confesses to the good doctor, apropos of nothing, that she has a drinking problem.

Although it matches the characters lips and is pretty (unintentionally)funny, the English dub track is actually pretty hard to take after awhile. The voice of the girlfriend (played by an actress who is basically, to paraphrase "The Simpsons", the non-union, Mexican equivalent of Heather Langenkamp)is like nails on a chalkboard and it eventually drove me to watch it in Spanish, lip sync be damned! It also has some pretty promiscuous teen sex (on only the second date!), but it's strictly PG-rated sex with nary a nipple, while the violence is maybe a hard PG-13. Ironically, despite an obviously great effort to market this in the US, it got much more of a release in the UK, but thanks to recent "Horror from South of the Border" bargain box set we can finally now, uh, enjoy it north of the Rio Grande.