Monkey Shines – sometimes called Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear - is an American horror film originally released in 1988. Written and directed by George A. Romero, the film is based on a novel with the same title authored by Michael Stewart. The film stars Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil and Joyce Van Patten.
Plot teaser
Allan Mann is an embittered paraplegic. His fickle ex-girlfriend, over-bearing mother and mean-spirited nurse don’t do much to comfort him, so he is relieved when the authorities provide him with Ella, a monkey trained to help him with every aspect of his daily life. But unbeknownst to him, Ella is also part of another, more sinister experiment, and what began as a convenience becomes a living nightmare as she starts to anticipate his darkest thoughts and carry out gruesome acts of revenge…
Monkey Shines was Romero’s first studio film. The film’s distributor, Orion Pictures, was desperate for a hit, as it was in financial difficulty. First, the studio forced Romero to add a happy ending to the picture, a plot device which the director had long avoided in favor of more ambiguous endings. Second, after poor previews, the studio recut the film without Romero’s knowledge to add a “shock” ending.
The film grossed $5.345 million in the US off a $7 million budget.
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Reviews
“A restrained psychological horror effort from Pittsburgh’s greatest filmmaker, Monkey Shines vanished almost immediately upon its theatrical release and has remained strangely neglected ever since. While not Romero’s greatest work by a long shot, the film does display many of his savvy filmmaking gifts for suspense and characterization while spinning an entertaining and sometimes frightening yarn.” Mondo Digital
“Romero does a marvelous job for the most part showing the hero’s honest emotional reactions to his disability (on the negative side there’s the crude characterizations of the supporting cast that seems superficial but, nevertheless, gets over because the fight scenes between the monkey and the heavies are a hoot), showing how very much sexual attitudes influence any relationship and pointing out with extreme examples the obvious dangers of unchecked experiments on animals. That it somehow works, remains provocative, has a likable hero we care about and doesn’t seem all that unreasonable (all things considered), must be credited to the skill Romero brings as a director.” Ozu’s World Movie Reviews
“The greatest disappointment is that Monkey Shines does not feel like a Romero film. Going for a classic story about the psychotic lover who can’t handle a breakup, Romero eschews social commentary, the bread and butter on which he built his career. He could’ve made the film a statement on medicine, health care or our relationship with household pets, but instead he goes straight for the thriller aspect. And though it counts as a horror story, there’s barely any of Romero’s trademark gore.” Death Ensemble
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