User reviews

This is not your run-of-the-mill slasher film. This is a well developed, well-paced suspense-type horror. If what you like it lots of blood and cheap scares punctuated by incidental music, then you should skip this film. If you like a horror involving a few good characters, and a really talented monkey, then take a look. The tension builds slowly. There are a lot of interesting characters, who are neither "good guys" nor "bad guys" (this includes the killer). The acting is not all that great, but the script is solid. That the monkey may be the best performer in the b=cast says more about the monkey than the human castmembers!

While this will likely never be considered one of filmmaker George Romero's best, it still represents a commendable effort in one of his rare forays into studio productions (in this case Orion). Scripted by Romero based on a novel by Michael Stewart, it tells the story of Allan Mann (handsome Jason Beghe), a law student who gets into a horrible accident that renders him a quadriplegic. He soon becomes despondent enough to attempt suicide, but soon he receives some temporary salvation in the form of Ella (Boo), a capuchin monkey who is trained to see to his needs. What he doesn't know is that his friend Geoffrey (John Pankow) has been playing mad scientist and injecting the cute lil' thing with human brain cells. Soon the bond between patient and helper becomes so strong that a mental connection is made, and Ella is physically acting out Allan's worst impulses. So what is he going to do about this little homicidal primate? Romero does a good job here at telling a fairly interesting story, although some viewers might be turned off at the lack of sympathetic characters. Most of them are flawed to some degree or another - creepy dean Burbage (Stephen Root), smarmy, incompetent doctor Wiseman (Stanley Tucci), fair-weather girlfriend Linda (Janine Turner), bitchy nurse Maryanne (Christine Forrest, a.k.a. Mrs. Romero) - and even a guy like Geoffrey, who initially just wants to help, has his problems as he's obsessed with his work. At least Allan has an appealing love interest played by Kate McNeil, whom horror fans will recognize as the lead in the slasher "The House on Sorority Row". The cast is pretty good overall; Joyce Van Patten plays the stereotypically smothering mother to good effect, and it's a treat to see character actors Root and Tucci near the beginnings of their careers, but the one performer the audience is likely to remember is Boo, who's adorable and very well trained; the animal action is first rate throughout (there's also a rather annoying bird on hand). The evolving relationship between Allan and Ella makes for a compelling hook, and it makes one appreciate the real-life efforts that people put into training service animals, and the animals themselves. The film is light on horror - most of the violence is implied - as Romero tends to go for a more psychological approach, and refrains from going for the gore. Overall, this is a decent flick, worth a look for genre fans who are interested in checking out Romero's non-zombie films. Seven out of 10.

Offbeat horror film has a paraplegic being given a capuchin monkey named Ella as a companion. Only problem: the cute little monkey has been subjected to genetic experimentation, and has a mind of its its own. Pretty soon, the monkey is up to no good, and the paraplegic is becoming telepathically linked to the increasingly evil simian. George Rnmero made this little gem. The cast is largely unknown, although watch for a young Stanley Tucci as one of the paraplegic's surgeons and John Pankow as the paraplegic's buddy (and mad scientist). A weird little tale that takes its time to get to the nasty stuff, which is just fine with me as the killings are pretty routine.

This film has been described as a "horror film for people who don't like horror films." That's an apt description for this underrated psychological/supernatural thriller from Pittsburgh's master horror director, George A. Romero. To date, this is Romero's only studio film, and he had to make numerous compromises to the finished product. (The originally intended ending would have been a killer.) That said, the film still comes off as smart and sharp, with some very good casting. (John Pankow, recognizable from "Mad About You," is really excellent here, and there are nice early performances from Stephen Root, Stanley Tucci, and Janine Turner.) And check out the amazingly good editing in the last 10 minutes. Overall, while this is not first-tier Romero, it's a terrific little horror film.

If you're looking for body count, blood, or bogeymen, this film is not for you. It is more of a psychological thriller than a horror film, though it was billed as horror, likely because of the pseudo-science gimmick that provides the basis for the conflict in the plot.

While the film tends to wander a bit (i.e. a sub-plot involving the research head that gets dropped 3/4 of the way through) it stays fairly well focused on the main character and his problems. Aside from the lead, the most effective acting was done by the monkey(s), but the "real" actors do a pretty good job of carrying their own. It gives you a little insight into what it's like to be quadriplegic. For a late 80's movie, the style of filming was well done, there is very little cheese, and the special effects didn't overreach.

The premise seems a bit farfetched to our currently more sophisticated and informed sense of what's possible on the genetic engineering front. After all, this movie was made 15 years ago. If Romero had gone with either a supernatural cause or a plain animal jealousy angle, it might be less dated, but then again it might have been a little less believable to begin with.

Not very horrific, not startling or scary, but worth seeing if you don't mind a slightly slow-paced thriller. I gave it a higher than average score (6 out of 10) just because it didn't make me say "oh, please!" too many times unlike other movies from that time--particularly horror films--are prone to do. For example, the pivotal moment is fully supported by plausible input earlier in the film, it's not one of those miraculous developments pulled out of nowhere in the last few seconds before the climax.

It seems that every once and a while, a neat little horror film comes along that eschews genre conventions and is able to tap into a new vein to provide its scares. Writer-director George A. Romero, of "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) infamy, brings forth "Monkey Shines," an adaptation of the novel by Michael Stewart.

Romero has always been a director who goes for the throat in delivering the shocks in his horror pictures. But in the savage gore and mayhem, he has never lost sight of the human characters, their drama, and their plight. In "Monkey Shines," Romero seems to have been domesticated somewhat - dare I say, "tamed" - in that characters and drama are most essential to the core of the film, and that horror is really the last thing on his mind.

"Monkey Shines" begins with the Good Day Gone Bad, Really Bad: Allan Mann (Jason Beghe), is a highly physical law student who goes for a jog early one morning after spending the night with his girlfriend Linda (Janine Turner). To avoid a dog on the sidewalk, he unknowingly runs into the path of an oncoming truck. He wakes up several weeks later in the hospital, now a quadriplegic, paralyzed, unable to use his body anywhere below the neck.

Confined to a wheelchair he moves around by working a lever with his mouth and having to rely on live-in nurse Maryanne (Christine Forrest), his doting, overbearing mother Dorothy (Joyce Van Patten) and having to deal with his pompous surgeon Dr. Wiseman (Stanley Tucci) who begins having an affair with Linda, Allan gives up and tries to commit suicide. Luckily, Allan's mad-scientist friend Geoffrey (John Pankow) may have a solution: Ella, an extremely intelligent capuchin monkey who is being trained by animal specialist Melanie Parker (Kate McNiel) to be a sort of help-primate for paraplegics and quadriplegics, much like a seeing-eye dog is used for blind people.

At first, a great weight seems lifted off Allan's shoulders; Ella's the perfect helper - she can answer the phone, play cassette tapes in the radio, and even help Allan turn the pages of his books when he reads. She even raises her hand in class for her turn to be called on. A deep bond develops between the two that's right out of any made-for-TV movie about hope and determination to beat the odds. Of course, and this is where the horror elements begin to kick in, what Allan doesn't know is that Ella is really Geoffrey's guinea pig in an experiment to create super-intelligent primates: he's been secretly injecting her with human brain tissue, which explains her super-intelligence in helping to make Allan's life a little bit easier. Even more horrifically, Allan has been having incredibly realistic nightmares in which he has acquired a monkey's-eye view of the world, and Ella is subconsciously acting out his deeply-suppressed anger, frustration, hatred, and rage for those around him. And it soon begins a battle of wits to see who is really controlling who, which also sees if Charles Darwin was really right all those years ago.

"Monkey Shines" develops so nicely during its first hour that it's easy to forget that first and foremost, it's a horror film and not just any horror film, a George A. Romero-directed horror film. Romero shows remarkable restraint in combining both the human story with the horror story, that both elements are given enough screen time to thoroughly develop and not seem so tacked-on to each other. That atmosphere and tension of the film's horror-themed second half is pretty intense, even if things can be forgiven for the haunted house-style climax.

This is easily the best-acted film Romero has ever directed, though obviously it's not his best; that honor goes to "Dawn of the Dead." All of the characters turn in fine and realistic performances, including John Pankow as Allan's drug-addled mad-scientist friend who truly has his friend's best interests at heart, even if they're morally gray in the end. But there is one performer who is highly deserving of much praise, and that is Jason Beghe. Jason Beghe delivers a strong, controlled central performance that in my opinion, was criminally overlooked by a great many awards organizations. His performance is one of the most convincing and sympathetic portrayals of a physically handicapped protagonist I've ever seen in the movies. Essentially a prisoner in his own body, he hits every emotive note perfectly, and we believe and can see where and why his anger and rage at his condition is one of the most believable performances in the history of Romero's long and distinguished career as a filmmaker.

"Monkey Shines" is an overlooked career highlight from a highly distinguished director, George A. Romero. Even more so, Jason Beghe's criminally underrated performance makes the film even more worthy of more significant praise.

This is one horror film that isn't monkeying around in the end. It is really scary.

8/10

Aah, George A Romero - the master himself - does it again. This is a very stylish thriller and perfect study of how man's apparent progress goes horribly wrong.

The film captured my attention from the opening moment. Jason Beghe is perfectly cast in this demanding role. It was interesting (if somewhat creepy) to see how things started going wrong, very subtle at first, and how the situation declined to absolute chaos and mayhem. The romance interest felt very natural and enjoyable. Quite often the romance feels forced into a film; here it seemed inevitable given the circumstances.

This is a true classic!

Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) is left paralyzed from the neck down following an accident. He loses all hope for living and even tries to commit suicide. A research scientist friend of his gets him a monkey named Ella that is trained to help him with day-to-day tasks. Allan's life improves and he develops a fondness for Ella. But when people that angered Allan start being killed, it becomes clear to him that Ella is somehow responsible.

Middling horror movie from George Romero. Starts off well enough but becomes increasingly predictable as it goes along and, by the end, you're just ready for it to be over. The cast is unexceptional, though the writing does them no favors. Jason Beghe sports a laughably fake beard early on. John Pankow's pretty much the only interesting character and even he's a cliché. If one scene pinpoints when the movie starts to go off the rails, it's when the physical therapist chick gives Allan a pity lay. This scene is supposed to be erotic but it will surely just elicit laughter from all but the most sensitive types. Watchable but nothing special.

George Romero does an excellent job of swapping Zombies for Monkeys. This film may sound ridiculous in the most preposterous way. But then again, we now live in a world of Snakes on a Plane and Burning Bright, so this is a little easier to swallow. In its genre, it is one of the best examples, and I'm not just talking about killer animals. I'm also referring to the stalker/obsessive partner/friend genre.

What Romero does brilliantly, is to take a number of characters and the audience on a journey of emotions and self discovery. For example, I started off wanting one of these monkeys. The relationship built up is a genuinely loving one. It's really cute, and this could easily be one of those lifetime inspirational movies. If the monkey wasn't a genetically modified, telepathic, homicidal, psycho monkey. The well trained monkey takes us from tragic victim of experiments, to a loving carer. We get a wonderful cleaning montage, as the monkey helps the friendship expands. The monkey's obsession grows steadily. It starts off with a few temper tantrums and escalates into bananas in the slippers. Soon bananas turn to murder. It's the evolution of all species.

None of this would work if it wasn't for a dramatic human connection. Beghe is a law student/athlete that is paralysed. He goes through acceptance, denial, frustration, which is understandable as his girlfriend leaves him for his doctor (a sleazy Tucci), he gets a patronizing nurse, and then his overbearing mother. It's great to see how the characters react to Beghe's quadriplegia, as it enforces Beghe's later anger. Beghe also does a terrific job of facial acting, which is most important as he can't use his body. In a single look he can convey the embarrassment of his mother having to wash him.

On the surface, this is a story of a monkey being a bitch to a cripple. But look deep down, REAAAAAAALLY deep, and you'll see a social commentary. For a long time, the monkey is the only one that treats Beghe as an equal. It doesn't throw money at his problem, try and cheer him up, nor can the monkey do everything for him.

Romero fills the film with dread, absurdity, and most of all a serious edge that clearly does the film justice. It's easy to mock this film. But the truth is, this could actually happen. Monkeys are creepy and untrustworthy.

Only the very best directors can take a flimsy story and make the most out of it, and this is precisely the case with Monkey Shines, adapted by George A. Romero from the novel by Michael Stewart. Of course, Romero is best known for Night of the Living Dead and it's spectacularly gory follow-up Dawn of the Dead, but Monkey Shines actually takes a surprisingly careful, reserved approach to this tale of a killer monkey, and takes the time to slowly develop the relationship between the central character and his simian helper. The film begins with Allan, played by Jason Beghe, a former track champion who clearly takes his workout routines incredibly seriously, packing his back pack with rocks and leaving the house for a morning jog with the sun barely risen. His active lifestyle is quickly cut short when he is hit by a bus, and wakes up days later as a quadriplegic.

When he returns home assisted by a mouth-operated wheelchair, his friends and family have all gathered to welcome him but nothing will ever be the same again. His shallow girlfriend Linda (Janine Turner), who fears her life will now be dominated by looking after her partner, has shacked up with Allan's unbearably smug surgeon Dr. Wiseman (Stanley Tucci with a head of hair), and his scientist best friend Geoffrey Fisher (John Pankow) is a junkie who shows up late for the welcome party. But Fisher, who has been experimenting on Capuchins by injecting them with human brain tissue, may have the solution to Allan's problems. After consulting with Melanie Parker (Kate McNeil) - an expert in assigning quadriplegics with monkey helpers - Fisher supplies Allan with his star pupil, 'Ella' (who is actually voiced by Frank Welker). The two hit it off immediately, and the bond between them becomes so strong that Ella can seemingly predict Allan's needs before he even asks (or points his laser pen).

Ella doesn't solve all of Allan's problems however, and Allan still vents his frustration at his uncaring nurse and her annoying bird, as well as his overbearing mother (Joyce Van Patten), who insists on sticking her nose in where it's not wanted. What follows would sound preposterous on paper, but Romero keeps the story engrossing and oddly believable by refusing to give into excess. The delightful exploding heads and exposed innards of his zombie movies simply wouldn't work here, although the film does offer a violent and shocking ending. This is on a similar low key to Romero's vampire masterpiece Martin, and the director's keen eye for character building leaves us fully invested in the man-and-monkey relationship, despite the bloody trail left in their wake. There's a truly great 90 minute film here, but Monkey Shines runs at just shy of two hours, occasionally losing focus to shift the action to Fisher's strained relationship with his boss (Stephen Root) or Allan's mother's insistence on moving in, both sub-plots that don't really lead anywhere and stretch the film out longer than it needs to be. But with Romero's passing just last year, Monkey Shines is a great reminder that the horror icon didn't only deliver in the zombie genre.

For over an hour, this was fairly interesting but by the time the last 30-40 minutes had arrived, the unlikeable characters and general nature of the film made me not want to see much more. I did stick it out for the ending, climactic scenes but wouldn't watch this movie again. It just wasn't as good as I had hoped. For some reason, I had high expectations.

However, like other of George Romero's horror films, this has profane and very stupid dialog, attitudes, so-so special-effects and a Class B-feel to it. Why I expected better, I don't know. Romero almost always disappoints me.

The only redeeming quality of this film was seeing the beautiful face of Joyce VanPatten, a natural beauty if I ever saw one.

Well, I really can't understand why some people talk so bad about MONKEY SHINES - that's a real good one from Romero! Not only is the idea (the "evil" part of the human soul and behavior is the suppressed animal instinct that sometimes breaks through)in general fascinating - but it is also very well brought on the screen! Romero is often blamed for his unspectacular kind of filming, for his "low aesthetics" (especially his films of the 80ies) etc. but if you look a little deeper, you'll see how much sense his special kind of filming makes, for example as a means to show and develop characters. By the way: the beginning sequence is so great - in a way it shows the "poetry of a car accident" (does this sound perverted?). I appreciate the way of handling the topic of being handicapped - MONKEY SHINES is THE SEA IN ME (2004, directed by A. Amenabar) as a horror movie! The film not only works on a philosophical level but is also - of course it has to because it's a horror movie - very thrilling, even though Tom Savini doesn't go as far with his FX as in his splatter flicks. The only thing I didn't like was that the effect of the serum wasn't explained in a scientific way - this makes the story look like some old-fashioned mad-scientist-story from the early decades of the 20th century... And of course: you'll also find the characteristic Romero-sense for dark humor in this one, too.

This movie's not going to have a fan base larger than Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead, but it is another example of Romero's uniqueness as s film maker. An original story with an original cast, Romero adds to the horror genre by going somewhere where no other film maker has gone before. Monkey Shines cast includes Christine Forrest who shows her finest performance as the nurse. Worth checking out, so check it out.

Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) becomes paralyzed from the neck down after a car hits him. He falls into a deep depression until a scientist friend (John Pankow) gets him a trained monkey named Ella (Boo) to help him. Allan also begins to fall in love with Ella's trainer (Kate McNeil)...but Ella begins to get very attached to Allan--TOO attached.

This was supposed to be director/writer George Romero's comeback film. He said the studio loved it and was going to put a big promotional push behind it. But, for whatever reason, when this came out in the summer of 1988 the studio just dumped it. There was next to no ads for it or coming attractions. Romero remains bitter about it to this day. It's too bad this film was just ignored. It's no masterpiece but it isn't bad.

The movie does have problems--it's far too long (almost two hours), the ending goes on forever and some of the plot is really hard to believe (I thought the psychic link between Allan and Ella was really stupid). Also the POV by the monkey was annoying and overused and there's a REAL embarrassing sex scene between Beghe and McNeil. Still I do like this movie.

As I said it's too long but I was never really bored. Beghe is excellent in a very difficult role; Pankow nicely underplays the scientist and McNeil is fresh and appealing. Also Boo (who plays Ella) is a good "actor". I realize she was just trained for her role but the expressions on her face and body movement was incredible. The plot is also quite interesting--until the end when it just strains credibility.

So not a bad film or a good one but worth catching. I give it a 7.

A really athletic dude named Allan (Jason Beghe) was hit by a pick-up and paralyzed. Not that the pick-up truck did him any favors, but the guy was running with ankle weights and a backpack full of bricks--it was only a matter of time before his knees would've been destroyed by that abuse. To help him out he was offered a trained monkey, Ella.

Ella could do simple tasks that were immeasurably helpful like fetch a book, give him snacks, play a cassette tape, etc. Ella was a bit enhanced though. This poor little gal, who never asked to be a guinea pig, was experimented on with some psychotropic drug. It was supposed to make her more intelligent, but it did a lot more than that.

I'm not sure which was the first movie to experiment with making a smarter animal that went horribly wrong (see Deep Blue Sea and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), but this one is the earliest one I know of.

Ella, as a result of the experimental drug, had a psychic connection with Allan. Even more than that, Ella's very presence made Allan hostile and angry towards everyone and Ella, aiming to please her master, would act upon Allan's anger. She became a killer monkey.

Have you ever seen the YouTube clip of the trunk monkey? Well, Ella was that and then some. She was a little thing, like the size of a spider monkey, so she had to be cunning, but she got the job done. And what do we do when an animal is dangerous? We kill it. Forget about the fact that she was made into a killer by some desperate mad scientist, the bottom line is that she was now a killer and had to be killed herself.

It is a sad movie. She was so adorable. She only wanted to please Allan. This is not me being a radical PETA member, this was a really cute monkey. I wish I had a little monkey like her. Minus the killing. At the very least she's a good ice breaker and conversation starter.

"Monkey Shines" is an honorable effort that doesn't quite work. It deserves credit for originality, but falls short of the mark.

The concept is interesting, but the execution leaves much to be desired. A paralyzed man's life is made easier with the help of Ellie, a monkey trained to help disabled people get by with their daily lives. However, she used to be a lab animal who has had human brain cells injected in experiments. A bond forms between the two, and she acts out his violent desires.

The final act does a good job in delivering the goods, but the film takes too long to get going, diluting the overall effect. In fact, at times one almost forgets it's supposed to be a horror movie. When it gets going, it works, although the very ending is a bit much.

I'm still not sure the sci-fi gimmick was necessary. Surely they could have done pretty much the same things without it? Something more supernaturally orientated perhaps? Still, I admired Romero's willingness to take chances and try his hand at a more subdued thriller. Jason Beghe does a credible job in the role, and we are offered a rare glance at the frustrations of the disabled. A tighter film would have better achieved the director's goals.

**1/2 (out of ****)

An Orion Pictures release