n 1963, Alfred Hitchcock sought to villainise the beasts of the air in his film The Birds, showing the aerial demons can be more predatory than we give credit. In 1975, Steven Spielberg terrified us of the hammerheads, bulls and great white sharks in Jaws, and for a while the idea of swimming at the beach was insane. In 1988, George A. Romero, considered the father of the zombie genre, attempted to show us the darker side of an animal slightly closer to us on the evolutionary scale: monkeys. With the film Monkey Shines, Romero tells a tale of murderous mischief and diabolical, methodical vengeance.
When Allan Mann is run down in the middle of the street by a truck, his life as he knows it plummets to a depressing condition of quadriplegic loneliness, only accompanied by his cold, selfish nurse and occasional visits by his scientist friend Geoffrey, who is secretly advancing his career through “helping” Allan. After Geoffrey gifts Allan a capuchin from his test lab, Allan’s lifestyle begins to improve and he is thrust out of his depression but recalls and reflects on the ones who’ve wronged him. His girlfriend, who had left him for his doctor, who had suspiciously under-examined Allan’s injuries, his nurse who whines and complains at the simplest task, and her damned parrot who attacked him. One by one, as each of them drop dead, Allan wonders whether it’s his new pet carrying out these murders and whether he had a hand in it.
Jason Beghe plays Allan, perfectly enunciating a pained frustration, you can hear the tired, pent-up, collected pain the character has gone through and how hard it is for him to keep it in. Every scene where Allan rages about his life, threatens someone or even displays his love for his pet is a highlight for the film, Beghe precisely balances the character’s nurturing and destructive side, all while being in a chair the entire film. Geoffrey is played by John Pankow, who comes off as very likable, but fails the character in one aspect: he doesn’t feel erratic or irresponsible enough. Early in the film, it’s established the character has been awake for days on drugs, and while he makes terrible mistakes, Pankow doesn’t act convincingly as a drug abuser. The true star of the film is Boo, who plays Ella the capuchin. Boo, even with not knowing what’s happening behind the scenes, becomes even more adorable and entertaining than Crystal the Monkey. The one shot that comes to mind is of Boo slamming down a knife on the kitchen table with both hands as Geoffrey attempts to control her. For a moment, you’re able to believe she can and will kill within seconds.
By far the best part of this horror film are the victims. Some victims you don’t think anything of, they may not be important enough or just aren’t very likeable. Monkey Shines, however, is one of those films where the characters are so despicable, you rejoice when their blood is spilled, cheering like the munchkins “ding dong, the witch is dead!” It feels like peace has been restored and right and wrong have been balanced each time someone dies in this film. If you want to get into Romero’s filmography but are sick to death of zombie films, give Monkey Shines a try!
Mason’s Top 3 Reasons To Watch ‘Monkey Shines’
1. A monkey so adorable, if you were on the jury for its murders, you’d declare it innocent in a second
2. Despicable characters whose deaths feel like pure emotional catharsis
3. A deep descent into the primal urges of revenge and bloodlust
Mason Horsley is a graduate of UOW with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Theatre. He hopes to write and direct a feature film and has been working on screenplays since he was 17. He writes film reviews for the Tertangala and works on his latest project ‘The Last Film’ while working a full-time job at a fish market. Mason despises reviewing films he dislikes and because of this, every review he writes acts as a recommendation.
Image Credit: Empire Online