Monkey Shines (1988)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

George A. Romero's first big studio film (from Orion Pictures), shows a more restrained direction from the man who brought us such horror cult movies as "Night of the Living Dead" ('68) or "Day of the Dead" ('85), "Monkey Shines", based on the novel by Michael Stewart, is an atmospheric suspense / thriller flick, intriguing & captivating to follow, creatively directed & photographed with some interesting camera angles and well-staged scenes giving a sense of eerie and paranoia.Jason Beghe (who looked a lot like Ed Harris) stars as Allan Mann, a handsome and healthy young athlete that becomes paralyzed after an accident, losing in the process his girlfriend Linda (Janine Turner) who can't handle Allan's new special condition. After a failed attempt to commit suicide, Allan is convinced by his best friend, Geoffrey (John Pankow), an unorthodox scientist, to adopt a monkey, named Ella, as a helper. This newly-acquired relationship gives Allan a new hope in life, both sharing everything together and facilitating his day-to-day, but soon their interaction will take an unexpected sinister turn... Beghe and Pankow are both good (especially Pankow who looks and acts like he was sleepless for the entire shoot), but all the glory goes to the little monkey Boo playing Ella with special kudos for his personal trainer and the camera tricks & movie magic techniques which turned the innocent and cute animal into a vicious stalker turned sadistic killer on-screen. His close-ups and interaction with the human actors are amazing and a must-see. Lower points are that the studio toned down the violence and cut some sub-plots' resolutions, trimming the picture in the cutting room floor and some scenes doesn't even make sense (suddenly the action jumps from Allan's home to a farm miles away without explanation). Romero's fans felt disappointed when this movie came out, because of the lack of horror, gore and violence, but it shows another side of the Master of Horror, that he can handle storytelling and delivered a picture, that besides its flaws, denotes a deep respect for the quadriplegic (the sex scene between Allan and Melanie Parker, Ella's trainer, was meaningful and poignant) and at the same time, keeps the viewer glued to the screen involved in this unsettling, spine-chilling & nightmarish tale of a disturbed attraction...

I don't what I expected but I this was not as good as hope for,I saw this on TV over the weekend, I did miss the first 8 minutes of the movie, I Don't think I missed to much.I enjoyed some parts of the movie, most of the time, i was rooting for The Monkey anyway,I didn't like the Allen at all, I didn't really care for me at all, I did not really sorry for me at all.One hell of nasty person, I know it's was be really hard just blow all time but there was no need of him being a ass to everyone who was to help him6 out of 10

This film is not from my generation, I was not even 2 yet, but I'm a TV/movie nostalgia nerd and kind of live in the past. Anyway, The film starts out with 20 something Law student, Allan (Jason Beghe) waking up after presumably sleeping with his "georgeous fiancée" and we see he's a top athlete and goes running, but gets hit by a truck, and goes to the hospital where his fiancée leaves him for the doctor (Stanley Tucci). He comes back from the hospital, a quadriplegic, and he movies in with his mom, seeming to take it rather well. his mad scientist friend(John Pankov) has helper monkeys in his lab and sends one (Ella) to Allan and he gets acquainted and comes around pleasantly, and another AID, this one a faithful and true girlfriend. He goes to school and the monkey goes everywhere with him. But things soon fall apart.he has an overbearing nurse and Allan slowly comes to anger, and being unable to move and having an extremely intelligent monkey with human brain sells the monkey vanquishes the annoying Nurse's bird. the story is more a very intense drama and thriller, than a horror film. It's complex but still believable. it's no different than Project X gone R-rated. With the people Allan sinfully wishes to avenge living nearby, in his reality dreams, she runs through the night and causes a fire at the ex fiancés, killing her and the doctor. No one believes Allan and he soon succumbs to verbal ferocity, speaking and shouting f-bombs of hate (the reason for the R-rating)his domineering mother tries to rule his life and he knows his relationship will work, and that he will be cured. The next couple deaths are non gory. Then Allan knows he must put an end to the maniacal creature and after he thinks it got his girlfriend he is overcome by rage that empowers his upper limbs and he and in the only gruesome sequence, becomes the hero . Then he is able to walk and he and his girlfriend go fishing together, and live happily.

A recent quadriplegic named Allan(Jason Beghe), and former track star, finds it hard coping with life having been confined to a wheelchair. His friend Geoffrey(John Pankow)is conducting experiments on a certain monkey named Ella which is through a hypodermic filled with a serum that derives from trimmings of frozen human brains in liquefied form. The experiments are about continuing the evolution of primate life into carrying more human characteristics. As Geoff tells his boss, Dr. Burbage(great character actor Stephen Root of OFFICE SPACE fame)Ella was already highly intelligent even before the experiments started, but something much more sinister develops when she becomes Allan's animal aide. Ella grows quite attached to Allan and vice versa, but something between them occurs that defies rational explanation..they are psychologically linked somehow meaning that when Ella goes out into the night, Allan sees through her eyes. It doesn't stop there..Allan feels what Ella feels and others around him see his behavioral changes which are unlike him such as outbursts of anger and profanity. Allan tries telling others about his link with Ella, but you can understand why they might be worried about his state of mind. But, soon Ella's aggressive nature turns violent and death to others that pose a threat either physically or emotionally(such as a girlfriend who leaves him after his accident for the doctor who performed an operation on his spine)occur.Melanie(Kate McNeil)is a specialist in the training of monkeys in how they assist those in need of an aide. She is the one that was coerced by Geoff into training Ella to help Allan. Allan and Melanie, as the film continues, fall in love. Melanie will pose a direct threat to Ella as the monkey can not stand others coming between her and Allan. Dorothy(Joyce Van Patten)is Allan's mother, a woman who wishes to help Allan but is more bothersome and intrusive than she realizes. Christine Forrest, the director George Romero's wife, portrays Maryanne, a belligerent nurse who complains all the time in regards to how bothersome Allan and his monkey are towards making her life miserable. Maryanne has a parrot which flies into Allan's unprotected face too often and will suffer for it.The longer the film continues, the more it induces eye-rolling..the premise is so outrageous and preposterous, it's hard not to chuckle. It is one of George's most Hollywood-ish films often allowing contrivances so that Allan will escape dangerous situations when Ella goes on violent. The whole "link" between man and primate thanks to an experimental concoction by Geoff is never fully explained satisfactorily leaving a gaping plot hole that is a wart to what the film is trying to accomplish. It's one thing to let a monkey get away with what Ella does, but another to ask us to believe that Allan feels and sees what she does. Thankfully Kate McNeil is a delightful, welcome presence in the film bringing some class to a rather mundane Romero effort. Disappointing film can not really build suspense because of the stupid story-line. If I wasn't such an Admirer of George's work, my rating would be lower.