Bakterion 4K 1982

1982—and film buffs won’t let me lie—was a very rich and fruitful year for good horror movies. Both masters of the genre and directors who were still unknown to the public released a whole series of interesting and noteworthy works. It’s no surprise that *Bacteria*, also known as *Panic*, was completely lost against such a powerful backdrop, remaining virtually unnoticed even at the time of its release.

The reasons for this are obvious—with such a meager budget and a lack of originality, there was no way it could compete, since even back then, the plot concept was hardly innovative. They borrowed elements from Romero’s *Night of the Living Dead*, took some from *Zombie City*, and so on. Among the definite pluses are the fairly good and high-quality makeup of the monstrous mutant, the fight against it, and the way it is killed in the finale, as well as a fair amount of nudity from various actresses, which, though minimal, brightens up the proceedings. It’s not all bad; the film has its moments. For example, the scene in the movie theater, similar to the one in Klaus's ‘Rats’ based on the novel by Herbert, whom I greatly admire.

David Warbeck and Janet Agren had previously appeared in Fulci's films, though in different ones, so both had experience in horror movies. Agrén is pretty, but here she’s mostly just “window dressing”; she doesn’t play any significant role in the plot. Italians in those days loved to cast such pretty Swedish blondes, who were perfectly suited to portray Englishwomen as well. As for Warbeck, he also got a fairly straightforward role—a tough cop, a fearless and irreproachable hero who single-handedly resolves a situation where the entire city police force has failed. I found his character’s name amusing, as it unambiguously references a popular sci-fi TV series.

Of course, at its core, this is low-budget trash in the best traditions of the great Bruno Mattei. The thing is, I’ve always divided all this “cinematic trash” into two categories: the curious, amusing, wild, and so on on one hand, and the dreary, unremarkable, utterly dull on the other. I would place this film in the first category; I actually liked it for its charming naivety and simplicity, despite all its objectively noted flaws. That is why my review will be positive, specifically in this context. Of course, fans of exclusively serious, “real” horror are unlikely to enjoy it.