Monkey Shines

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.

Nope, you ain't gonna get zombies in this George Romero offering. Nope, you ain't gonna see ungodly amounts of screen blood ooze out of all kinds of twisted, sick, mangled body parts either. If you are looking for sheer violence of the gory kind - look elsewhere. This Romero film is a thoughtful, intelligent, suspenseful film that spends a lot of its time developing the personalities of its characters as well as the climax of the film. A young man studying to be a lawyer is paralyzed after hit by a truck. He loses his beautiful girlfriend to his surgeon, his mother stays with him and hires an obnoxious nurse with a budgie, and his whole life is upside-down as he must depend on others or machines for everything. A friend from an experimentation lab donates a monkey to him that will help care for him. The monkey initially brings back his zeal for life but soon strange things start to happen....almost a telepathic link of kinds is established between the small capuchin monkey and the wheelchair-bound man. The film builds events very slowly and with a lot of talk. I thought this helped the film as the writing is crisp and the acting more than adequate. The star of the film...the small monkey is a talented little thespian. As strange as this sounds...she with the aid of Romero's direction... actually is able to create some sort of pathos. The scenes where she listens to the tape and hugs her owner are powerful as are the ones where she uses her face to express her emotions. Jason Beghe also does a credible job in his difficult role. The other actors are fine. Maryanne Hodges(Mrs. George Romero) does an outstanding job as the uncaring nurse. Stephen Root of News Radio also has an intriguing role in a plot strand that is left for dead in the end. Although the film is fine in many respects, it has some problems. Most of these problems arise from the script. Some plot elements are never really explained fully. Some plot strands are abandoned. And some characters are over-drawn in terms of stereotypical behaviour. Romero once again tackles a difficult task and does a very credible job overall. The thing I found most unique about the film was his choice of music for the film. It just seemed inappropriate somehow. The only music that really worked was the the music that Ella(the monkey ) heard as she embraced her owner. That was a fine choice.

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!

The plot of "Monkey Shines: is fairly simple:after an aspiring law student Allan Mann is disabled after an accident,his best friend recruits an animal trainer to educate a lab monkey to assist him in his day-to-day tasks.A monkey named Ella shares a bizarre mind link with her master and starts to act out his subconscious thought of revenge."Monkey Shines" is a smart and underrated chiller that features some truly intense moments.The tension that is slowly built up in certain scenes is absolutely incredible.The script relies more on subtle psychological horror than gore.The acting is pretty good and there is even a little bit of nudity.The plot is very interesting but the film can be slow at times.Give this one a chance-just don't expect another "Martin" or "Dawn of the Dead".

Unexpectedly intense classic, a unique abnormal experience! It's about a man who gets in a severe injury and makes friends with a monkey that even helps him until the monkey gets super vicious/evil. Unlike most George A. Romero films, very refreshing and enjoyable to see how things play out.

Monkey Shines is about a paralyzed man who receives a very smart monkey to help him around the house but then the monkey starts to change. SCARES:In my opinion this movie was really not scary one bit it is actually on the boring side. The Jump scenes pretty much don't exist. Gore:This being a Romero film I thought it would be pretty gory,but this movie is really gore less. Final Verdict:Not very good. I think you will be tremendously let down if you are expecting big things from Romero like I was . Rated R Nudity and language You heard it from the Rooster.

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.

In this one this guy gets disabled and can no longer look after himself, as he cannot move anything from the neck down. A person is hired to look after him. His friend though decides to give him a monkey he is experimenting on to help his friend out. Unfortunately, this monkey begins to form some sort of link between itself and the disabled man and performs some of the man's dark thoughts. The monkey kills off the bird of the caretaker, as this bird actually attacks the man, the monkey also goes after his former lover and the guy she had an affair on. This guy is actually the one who performed the surgery on the guy. The caretaker moves out after her bird is killed, so the guys mom moves in to take care of her son and treat him like a child. You can really sympathize with the guy as his frustration mounts, as it seems people are discouraging him from ever moving again even though there is a slim possibility he can regain his former abilities. This movie also shows how, even though someone may be disabled and in need of assistance that they shouldn't be treated like a child. All in all an OK flick with a rather good ending.

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.

Young athletic Allen (Jason Beghe) finds himself paralyzed from the waist down after a truck hits him. An experimental pet monkey is brought in to help him out with his daily routines. However, as Allen's anger grows over his situation he finds out that his pet monkey is going around killing people and carrying out his dark desires. Thoughtful well made cleverly directed horror flick has a scary, intense finale. One of George A. Romero's better latter day efforts. Rated R; Nudity, Profanity, Violence.