Earlier this year, 2016, Belgium lost one of his greatest and most legendary comedians. Gaston Berghmans died at the age of 90, which is an admirable age of course, but still his death meant a great loss for our country as he truly was – and will forever remain – a national TV/comedy monument. And yet, Gaston's career never fully recovered or peaked again since the premature death of his regular sparring partner and close friend Leo Martin in 1993. Together they formed an unmatched comical duo and released hundreds of hilarious sketches, legendary TV-appearances and also three long-feature movies. "Paniekzaaiers", which more or less translates itself as "Panic Causers", is the second of those, after "Zware Jongens" ("Tough Guys") and before "Gaston & Leo in Hong Kong". This one is generally considered as the most popular one among the millions of fans (including yours truly) and definitely also was their biggest commercial success.
Obviously, the principal objective of the film is evoke hysterical laughs and almost entirely revolves around the grimaces of Gaston and Leo and the crazy situations they clumsily work themselves into Still, personally, I have another and admittedly very bizarre reason why I think "Paniekzaaiers" is a unique piece of Belgian cinema. Behind all the laughter, slapstick situations and chemistry between the two protagonists there's a bona fide grim and potentially disturbing exploitation premise that easily could have emerged straight from the grindhouse/drive-in era! Gaston and Leo play two cops in the city of Antwerp, and all over the news there are unsolved cases of seemingly random women that are being kidnapped in spectacular ways, like for example the nun who's getting pulled up to the church's bell tower at the beginning of the film. Nobody knows why exactly these women are targeted, as there isn't any kind of connection between them, and there's never any kind of demand for ransom or clues regarding their whereabouts. Thanks to their "genius" investigation work, Gaston and Leo slowly discover that the women are kidnapped by a sinister and mentally disturbed man (with the help of his dopey accomplice) who's sole mission is to put together a collection of 24 women that together recreate the ideal persona of his beloved mother. Seriously, am I the only who thinks this is pretty demented stuff? The kidnapper, Max, has kidnapped a female teacher in order to represent the intelligence of his mother, a female mayor to represent her authority, a nurse for her cares and even a prostitute for her sexual charisma! Furthermore, he built individual cells inside an underground lair where each of the women's professional surroundings are recreated and on a daily basis he drives by them in a bumper car for inspection! As symbolical juicy cherry on the cake, Max also has a private chamber where he has a video image of his real mother (she's a petrifying battle-ax with red hair and evil eyes) and a huge collection of life-size mannequin dolls dressed in the work outfits of the women that he yet has to kidnap. Whenever he's done scouting the perfect victim, he undresses the mannequin and orders his goofy accomplice to design a new habitat cage for her.
Yes, "Paniekzaaiers" is a very funny and light-headed comedy, but come on ! Underneath the surface, this is sick and potentially unnerving stuff! When I first saw this film, when I was still a very young child, I obviously never contemplated about this and 99% of the Belgian audiences probably never did either. When I grew older and started to develop a fascination for obscure and controversial cinema, particularly from the seventies and eighties, "Paniekzaaiers" became more and more of a camouflaged exploitation gem with each repeated viewing. I'll probably never find out whether or not the scriptwriters Paul Koeck and Patrick LeBon are aware of the deranged potential of their own scenario. Who knows, maybe they're secretly into Z-grade movies as well? It's my one of my personal biggest wishes to one day find the time and the energy to rewrite the script and turn it into a genuine and full-blooded exploitation gem with violence, perversion and a raw atmosphere.
Obviously, the principal objective of the film is evoke hysterical laughs and almost entirely revolves around the grimaces of Gaston and Leo and the crazy situations they clumsily work themselves into Still, personally, I have another and admittedly very bizarre reason why I think "Paniekzaaiers" is a unique piece of Belgian cinema. Behind all the laughter, slapstick situations and chemistry between the two protagonists there's a bona fide grim and potentially disturbing exploitation premise that easily could have emerged straight from the grindhouse/drive-in era! Gaston and Leo play two cops in the city of Antwerp, and all over the news there are unsolved cases of seemingly random women that are being kidnapped in spectacular ways, like for example the nun who's getting pulled up to the church's bell tower at the beginning of the film. Nobody knows why exactly these women are targeted, as there isn't any kind of connection between them, and there's never any kind of demand for ransom or clues regarding their whereabouts. Thanks to their "genius" investigation work, Gaston and Leo slowly discover that the women are kidnapped by a sinister and mentally disturbed man (with the help of his dopey accomplice) who's sole mission is to put together a collection of 24 women that together recreate the ideal persona of his beloved mother. Seriously, am I the only who thinks this is pretty demented stuff? The kidnapper, Max, has kidnapped a female teacher in order to represent the intelligence of his mother, a female mayor to represent her authority, a nurse for her cares and even a prostitute for her sexual charisma! Furthermore, he built individual cells inside an underground lair where each of the women's professional surroundings are recreated and on a daily basis he drives by them in a bumper car for inspection! As symbolical juicy cherry on the cake, Max also has a private chamber where he has a video image of his real mother (she's a petrifying battle-ax with red hair and evil eyes) and a huge collection of life-size mannequin dolls dressed in the work outfits of the women that he yet has to kidnap. Whenever he's done scouting the perfect victim, he undresses the mannequin and orders his goofy accomplice to design a new habitat cage for her.
Yes, "Paniekzaaiers" is a very funny and light-headed comedy, but come on ! Underneath the surface, this is sick and potentially unnerving stuff! When I first saw this film, when I was still a very young child, I obviously never contemplated about this and 99% of the Belgian audiences probably never did either. When I grew older and started to develop a fascination for obscure and controversial cinema, particularly from the seventies and eighties, "Paniekzaaiers" became more and more of a camouflaged exploitation gem with each repeated viewing. I'll probably never find out whether or not the scriptwriters Paul Koeck and Patrick LeBon are aware of the deranged potential of their own scenario. Who knows, maybe they're secretly into Z-grade movies as well? It's my one of my personal biggest wishes to one day find the time and the energy to rewrite the script and turn it into a genuine and full-blooded exploitation gem with violence, perversion and a raw atmosphere.
