Halloween Film Month: 31 in 31 (or Less) #4: Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear

by themrmojorisin67

 

Director: George A. Romero

Starring: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten

Released: 1988

Trailer

Synopsis: After being rendered quadriplegic as a result of a freak accident, Allan is provided with a therapy monkey named Ella who helps him with daily tasks and seems far smarter than most monkeys. Little does he know that not only is Ella the result of freakish experiments, but that Ella is willing to do anything, even commit murder, for him.

 

Before we begin, yes…George A. Romero sadly passed away earlier this year. Having pioneered the zombie genre and inspired countless other filmmakers, Romero was, is, and always will be a legend.

But that doesn’t mean he was immune to putting out some ridiculous films every once in a while. Case in point: Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear, a film that could not have looked like anything but a B movie to the producers.

The acting is not that great, and ranges from passable to downright hilariously mediocre. Granted, most of these actors do not have much to work with, character-wise. But a little bit of subtlety could have helped the audience take the story more seriously. The worst offender here has to be Jason Beghe as Allan, which is disappointing because, on paper, Allan’s story is actually quite interesting and kind of depressing—through no fault of his own, he loses the ability to control his arms and legs, the life he had completely falls apart, and he is so miserable, he makes an attempt on his own life at one point. But Beghe can’t pull a single convincing emotion to save his life. At least John Pankow, who plays Allan’s friend, Geoffrey, seems to be having a good time, even if his performance is atrociously over-the-top at times.

The writing has the potential to be good. As previously stated, Allan’s story is actually kind of interesting if one ignores everything else around it. The love story between Melanie and Alan is actually kind of sweet, if a bit abrupt…at least before the barn fellatio scene that is supposed to be our big “romantic moment” (spoilers, I guess). But what really ruins whatever potential the film has to at least be okay story-wise is the fact that (SPOILERS) Allan develops a psychic connection with the monkey, to the point where the monkey is reading his negative thoughts and acting on them, but also impacting his attitude and making him more aggressive. The more this reviewer thinks about it, the less it makes sense. Despite this, there are still some suspenseful moments despite the ridiculousness of the premise. The only issue is that one has to overlook this ridiculousness, which is much harder to do than it sounds.

The cinematography is passable. There are no points where the film looks incompetently filmed. The problem is that there is not a lot of creativity in the camera work. Everything feels very by-the-numbers and standard, resulting in a competent, yet visually boring, presentation.

But where the film ultimately lets the audience down is the slasher aspect of the story. The death scenes are poorly handled and just uninteresting, at least when the audience is allowed to see them. This is a film where the antagonist is a tiny monkey…at least dazzle the audience with some ridiculously over-the-top deaths! But we do not get that—we get the image of fire as a house is burning down, a needle in the back, and a hairdryer in the bathtub. Oh, and a death scene involving a hilariously fake dummy monkey that makes part of this reviewer wonder why the filmmakers even put a disclaimer at the beginning of the film that the monkey was not actually harmed. I’d be more impressed with the person who thought that was a real monkey during said scene (which I won’t spoil because, seriously, it does have to be seen in context to be fully enjoyed).

As a legitimate horror film by George A. Romero, Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear is disappointing, to say the least. But, as an unintentionally hilarious and campy “horror” film, it’s still fun and entertaining because of all the things it does wrong.

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