LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

John Lohmann Best movie ever! That's what I'd say if I'd never seen a horror film. My God "The Dark, Crocodile, The Lamp (AKA: The Outing)" and hell even "Blue Monkey" did a better job trying to get a good scare! This one well, anyone who made this movie should take to the wood shied and put to rest! And I hope that the Director of Photography didn't get paid much. Look's like he lite it with two Mag lights in some parts and work lights in others. And now lets talk about unibrow girl... shave it! During the sex sceen you just want to tie her down and shave it off! And isn't a montage usually place toward the end... not in the first 20 min? Now for the story, there is none! Looks like they sat down one weekend and said "Hey, I have a 35mm camera for the weekend. Lets make a movie by Monday." I'm not kidding! The sound was not recorded at all for the set... ALL ADR! The only good thing is the make-up effects and death scenes. They are stylish and fun to watch. Just wish they could have been in a better movie.

insomniac_rod I'm reviewing this movie for the 2nd. time. After many years, I caught this movie on Mexican cable and I'm glad that I liked it better than the first time I watched it. As a kid, I hated this movie because it trashed my favorite slasher characters, Freddy and Jason.Anywways, this is a Mexican version of "A Nightmare On Elm Street" part 1 and II and has some elements from the "Friday the 13th" sequels. Also, some little influences by "The Evil Dead". The story follows Michael and his friends, who after Michael's birthday party decide to play with the ouija board. Unfortunately to them, an evil spirit named Virgil possesses one of them and starts a killing spree taking revenge on everyone who played with the board. Virgil makes a late appearance in the movie but manages to dispatch his victims one by one... until only Alex and Michael are left. Could Michael stop Virgil? How is he going to use the "magic" dagger against him? (In the style of "Jason Goes To Hell"). Could it be that Virgil is really more dangerous than Freddy and Jason? Watch "Don't Panic" with low expectations and you might surprise yourself.The movie is very cheesy, but not in a negative way. It's cheesy in an 80's manner! We get plenty of gore, some nasty death scenes, a "cool" score (I love the "Don't Panic!" song), and some creepy scenes. RYes, the "Nightmare On Elm Street" influenecs are present through all the movie. Especially from Part II: Freddy's Revenge. Michael's character is very similar to Jesse. He even has a friend who is killed in front of him and can't do anything but escape from some stupid cops. Also, Michael has this wimpy attitude but manages to confront Virgil and beware all of his friends. The movie has this 80's feeling that we all love. This is the typical slasher flick from the 80's that spent more budget on the visuals. The f/x are cheesy but worked for me. The gore is great! (Check out a death scene similar from Dario Argento's "Opera"). The acting is way all over the top but still works for this kind of movie. Bishof delivers a good performance, Gaby Hassle delivers a cute, solid performance. She's way too pretty to be around all the gore. Virgil is a mix of looks; he has the looks of possessed Ash from "Evil Dead II", but the make-up of his face is almost the same as Freddy Krueger! Although he isn't as annoying as Freddy. He just keeps repeating "Do You believe in Satan?!". But it isn't as annoying as Krueger's one liners. His demise is very gory and great. Lots of blood through his mouth! One of the cheesiest scenes in slasher history is when Michael goes to Alex's house, becomes mad, and starts shooting! Horrible acting in that scene by the way. I liked the ending which is very "moving" and has an extremely cheesy line that references one love scene: "As long as love exists between you two the rose shall never wither.". The scene happens when Alex is in the graveyard...This movie took the right influences and ripped them off in almost a cynical way but still this movie is cheese for the please. Watch it if you can find it, although it will be very hard , as far as I know, it's currently out of print. Or maybe you can find it with the title "Dimensiones Ocultas". "Don't Panic" is a pleasant surprise and deserves a chance. Probably one of Mèxico's best Horror/Fantasy movies. Yes, this is quality here but still is entertaining!

Paul Andrews Don't Panic (a confusing title which means absolutely nothing by the way) starts by introducing us to Micheal Smith (Jon Micheal Bishof) who recently moved to Mexico with his alcoholic Mother (Helena Rojo). It's the night of Micheal's birthday & the last few guests are leaving his party, or so he thinks. Some of his friends have stayed behind including his best friend Tony (Juan Ignacio Aranda) & a girl from school whom he has the hots for named Alexandra (Gabriela Hassle). Tony, being an idiot, suggests that they hold a séance with a Ouija board he just happens to have, after some goading everyone agrees & the séance begins. Tony talks about a spirit named Virgil & asks him some stupid questions, everyone goes home & that's about that or so everyone thinks... The next day Micheal is late for class but everything is fine. However that night as Micheal is trying to sleep he has a vision, a vision of one of his friends named Debbie (Cecilia Tijerina) who was at the séance, being brutally stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. Oh, & for some unexplained reason Micheal's eye's turn red. At first Micheal thinks that it was just a hallucination but when he hears about Debbie's death & that of another one of his friends at the séance Peter (Mario Ivan Martinez) on the news he becomes convinced that his vision was real. While at school Micheal receives a warning in the shape of yet another vision, a warning which tells him Christy (Melinda McCallum) will be the next to die, Micheal must try & save Christy & his remaining friends who were present at the séance before this unknown source of evil kills all of them...This Mexican American co-production was written & directed by Ruben Galindo as Ruben Galindo Jr. & is one seriously bad film. The script tries to cross supernatural thriller with stalk 'n' slash horror & it predictably turned out to be a complete mess. Don't Panic is a painfully slow & tedious film to watch with only two murders for well over an hour of it's running time & lots of boring exposition & unnecessary character development for the rest of it. The dialogue is pretty bad, the acting is very bad & the character's are awful. The film tries to conceal the killer's identity & to be fair it might work, unfortunately the version I saw revealed the killer on the back of the video box so I knew who it was all along, I doubt it would be that much of a surprise though. No explanation is given to who Virgil is, what he want's, why he's killing these specific teenagers or how he is able to possess people's bodies. Virgil is just 'there' & we have to accept it. The character's are all stupid, the situations Don't Panic depicts are all stupid & as a whole the film lacks any sort of fore-thought or intelligence behind what's going on. The ending is awful as well, both how Virgil is defeated & that sickening & tacky 'this rose will never wilt as long as there is love between us' scene. Despite what you may have read there is actually very little on screen gore, two people are stabbed which Don't Panic depicts by having blood splash over the floor & on the victims clothes, there is a fairly decent slit throat even if I wouldn't just sit impassively in a car as someone stuck their hand in through the window & sliced my throat open with a knife & a scene in which a knife (it's the same knife in all the murder's actually) is stuck into someones chin & it protrudes from their mouth. All the kill scenes are dull with virtually no build up & director Galindo fails to inject any tension, scares or atmosphere into them just like the rest of the film in fact. There isn't even any nudity either, in fact when Micheal & Alexandra have sex it is squeaky clean stuff, Galindo merely shows them kissing each other on the lips while in bed. As mentioned already in other comments the sight of Micheal running around in his babyish pyjama's is both bizarre & very silly looking. Don't Panic is technically average, the cinematography is static & flat as are the production values in general & the horrible music seems very out of place. There are a couple of scenes where a face pokes out of the TV which is quite an impressive effect. Overall there is very little I can recommend Don't Panic by as it's a pretty terrible film all round really, maybe it's good for a few laughs & a decent slit throat but that's it. One to avoid unless it's VERY cheap & your VERY bored.

RareSlashersReviewed Part A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, part HALLOWEEN with a little bit of THE BOOGEYMAN thrown in for good measure, DON'T PANIC is a successful crossbreed of those styles which makes for an entertaining ninety minutes of classic slasher frolics.In the outset we meet Michael (Jon Michael Bischof), the star of the movie who's recently moved down to Mexico with his alcoholic mother away from his unsympathetic father in Beverley Hills. He's celebrating with his newly found friends, which include Tony (Juan Ignacio Aranda) - a smart-ass wise cracker - and Alexandra (Gabriella Hassel) whom he has the hots for. It's Mike's seventeenth birthday and as a present the gang have got him an Ouija board (a great gift usually.if people want to get possessed or die!) and even though at first he refuses to take part, the gang force him to join in on one of their séances. They all gather round in a circle and join hands around an eerie looking candle lit table as Tony attempts to call up a medium known as 'Virgil'. He isn't very talkative but lifts up the arrow to point it at Mike in a threatening manor (ooooh, creepy!). All of a sudden, the door flies open and in bursts the birthday boy's inebriated mother who soon sends the group packing and Mickey to bed! Soon after that night Michael begins to have strange dreams that an unseen psycho holding an ancient dagger is viciously murdering his friends. When it's revealed that the teens are actually being bloodily butchered, he begins seeing premonitions of someone warning him who is next on the killer's list. With this knowledge, he is forced to attempt to save them from the maniacal assassin. But who is it that is slaughtering the hapless group and what are their motives?About two weeks before I saw this, I watched the more recent British slasher LONG TIME DEAD. It looks as if this may well have been the inspiration for that flick because the two plots are almost interchangeable. Director Ruben Galindo Junior - who was also behind the 1985 addition CEMETERY OF TERROR - has done a good job in making this an enjoyable thriller with some decent supernatural elements that make a refreshing change from movies such as GIRLS SCHOOL SCREAMERS, which attempted the same sort of thing but drastically failed. Don't expect great performances, because you certainly won't find any here; but what it lacks in thespianism it makes up for in storyline and originality.This was the full-uncut copy that I recently purchased on the UK 'Dark vision' label and it includes some tacky but effective gore to boot. In one murder, some guy gets stabbed in the chin with the giant dagger and it protrudes through his mouth! That's probably the best of the bunch and it even manages to look pretty authentic! There are some interesting chase sequences included too, the one in the hospital being vaguely reminiscent of HALLOWEEN 2 with the killer stalking in traditional slow-mo Michael Myers manner and the downbeat ending truly is unexpected for a film of this genre.great! You wont get bored whilst watching either and in some parts it even borders on becoming pretty exciting. The director gives us the chance to play whodunit for the first half, but doesn't waste time overdoing the investigative factors.Although this is a decent flick, it doesn't manage to escape from being extremely cheesy just like so many of its genre counterparts from this period - the late eighties. For example Jon Michael Bischof spends three quarters of the runtime in a pair of groovy pyjamas, anyone can imagine how embarrassing that must've been for him in his movie debut! They could have at least given him a stylish set of jim-jams to run around in! Also watch out for a whole lot of incredibly silly dialogue and some unintentional tongue in cheek humour. Michael and Alexandra - the third rate Jamie Lee Curtis of the flick - head out on a date in the beginning and although the things they get up to are cheestastic enough, nothing can best the advice that Tony gives Michael when he returns! He tells his buddy that if he really loves her he should 'give her a rose', but not just any such flower, it must be 'the magic rose'! He then walks over to a giant bowl in his room (!), places a towel over the top, removes it and then he pulls out just one single thorn covered stem and offers it to the confused looking character! I mean, what is this guy? Is he some sort of undercover Casanova? Why has he got a bowel filled with roses in his room? Like I said, the cheese is spread thick and fast throughout the feature!It's been a little while since I've watched a slasher that I've truly enjoyed! DON'T PANIC may not be overly scary, but it's been put together with thought and it adds supernatural touches to the age-old slasher clichés better than most. It may not be groundbreaking but it's pretty entertaining in that 'so bad it's pretty good' kinda way! Yeah, I recommend this and it's set me on my so far, pretty unsuccessful search for CEMETERY OF TERROR!