Main Cast: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Christine Forrest
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A quadriplegic former athlete finds his darkest urges being acted out by an animal familiar in this psychological horror film. When Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) loses the use of his legs and arms in an accident, he becomes bitter -- no surprise given that his girlfriend dumps him for his surgeon, his new nurse (Christine Forrest) is a shrew, and his smothering mother (Joyce Van Patten) keeps threatening to move in and take care of him. Enter Kate McNeil (Melanie Parker), a scientist who is working to provide handicapped people with highly trained animal helpers. Soon Allan is bonding with Ella, an adorable Capuchin monkey, who, unbeknownst to him, has been injected with human brain tissue by drug-addicted scientist Geoffrey Fisher (John Pankow). At first Allan loves little Ella, but the monkey seems to grow jealous as Allan slowly develops a romance with the beautiful Kate. Meanwhile, Allan begins having strange dreams in which he experiences the world from a monkey's-eye point of view. These visions culminate in a fiery nightmare -- the same night Allan's ex-girlfriend and her new lover die in a house fire. Realizing the growing link between his own inner demons and the violence occurring around him, Allan tries to sever the connection with Ella. But the limitations of even his high-tech wheelchair give the psychic primate the upper hand. Written and directed by horror veteran George Romero, Monkey Shines re-teams the filmmaker with his frequent collaborator, Christine Forrest. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
Overlong and saddled with an unsympathetic protagonist, this labored, lesser George Romero effort aspires to the level of acute psychological horror. Unfortunately, the writer/director gets bogged down in too much plot, burying a number of interesting ideas and great scenes in a formless mush. Romero regular Christine Forrest has a lot of fun with her nasty-tempered nurse character, while Joyce Van Patten gets to step past her usual nice-lady roles to portray an epically overbearing mother. But Jason Beghe isn't much of a leading man, and much of the rest of the cast seems anonymous. The biggest deficiencies, however, lie in Romero's script, which takes too many detours and too much time to build up to the extended set piece of the conclusion. For those willing to wait him out, though, the director delivers. Inventively portraying the limited options available to a quadriplegic in a motorized wheelchair as he's stalked by a relentless monkey through the obstacle course of his home, Romero mixes gripping mind games with grisly thrills. The script may seem a little queasy in it violence against the women characters, but that's par for the course in this genre. DVD viewers should fast-forward through the subplots and subpar character development and enjoy the last half-hour for the showpiece it is. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Stephen Root - Dean Burbage; Stanley Tucci - Dr. John Wiseman; Janine Turner - Linda Aikman; William Newman - Doc Williams; Chuck Baker - Ambulance Driver; Mitchell Baseman - Child Playing; David Earle - Anesthetist; Michael Naft - Young Allan; Tina Romero - Child Playing; Patricia Tallman - Party Guest; Melanie Verlin - Vandal; Tudi Wiggins - Esther Fry; Boo the Monkey - Ella; Tim Dileo - Vandal; Dan Fallon - Allan's Friend; Christina Galesi - Nurse; Tom Quinn - Charlie Cunningham; Lia Savini - Child Playing; Leslie Dane Shapiro - Nurse; Alice Shure - Nurse
Credit
James C. Feng - Art Director, Mark Harrington - Art Director, Peter R. McIntosh - Associate Producer, Dianne Crittenden - Casting, Barbara Anderson - Costume Designer, Nick Mastandrea - First Assistant Director, George A. Romero - Director, Pasquale A. Buba - Editor, David Shire - Composer (Music Score), Brenda Hoffert - Musical Direction/Supervision, Paul Hoffert - Musical Direction/Supervision, Alan Brandt - Songwriter, Raymond B. Egan - Songwriter, Bob Haymes - Songwriter, Peggy Lee - Songwriter, Hubie Wheeler - Songwriter, Richard A. Whiting - Songwriter, Jeannee Josefczyk - Makeup, Cletus Anderson - Production Designer, James A. Contner - Cinematographer, Charles Evans - Producer, Diana Stoughton - Set Designer, Steve Kirshoff - Special Effects, Tom Savini - Special Effects, John Sutton III - Sound/Sound Designer, George A. Romero - Screenwriter, Billy Hill - Featured Music, Gus Kahn - Featured Music, Michael Stewart - Book Author
Monkey Shines tells the story of an athlete, Alan Mann, who is rendered quadriplegic when struck by a truck. Mann fails to adjust to his condition, becoming suicidal and despondent. When Jeff, a scientist friend of his (portrayed by John Pankow), who has been experimenting with the injection of human brain tissue into monkeys, learns this, he is prompted to supply one of the experimental monkeys, named "Ella" (portrayed by Boo, whose sounds are provided by Frank Welker), to Alan as a helper.
Their relationship is amicable at first, with Mann's life being made much easier, and the two bond deeply, even sharing "romantic" moments with sweet music. But soon their interaction takes a decidedly sinister turn. The monkey seems to become a telepathic receptacle for Mann's anger at his state and his desire for revenge against friends and family for slights both real and imagined. Simultaneously, Mann develops a romantic relationship with Melanie (Kate McNeil), a specialist in quadriplegia and helper monkeys. The film contains a rare example of an intimate love scene with a severely handicapped protagonist.
Ella's protectiveness turns to savage jealousy even as Alan is informed that his condition may be reversible. First, Ella kills Alan's former girlfriend (Janine Turner), who has been cheating on him with his former doctor (Stanley Tucci), by setting their romantic hideaway on fire. Then Ella kills Alan's jealous, overbearing mother (Joyce Van Patten), by electrocuting her in the bathtub. Then, Ella kills Jeff, by injecting him with the very syringe of poison he had intended to use on her, and disables Melanie, before trying to light her on fire. Alan, helpless and alone, is able to summon the strength to turn on the tape player with the romantic music, summoning Ella to cuddle close to him. When Ella cradles Alan's head, Alan, painfully betraying Ella's trust, bites and thrashes his head back and forth, hitting Ella into the handles of his wheelchair before finally relinquishing his bite and throwing her toward the open deck of his tape machine, killing Ella.
The movie ends with Alan undergoing surgery to restore his mobility, after which he walks using the aid of crutches.
