Rating: 
Summary: One of the forgotten gems of the 80's
Review: "Night of the Living Dead" fanatics will disagree, but in my opinion "Monkey Shines" represents George Romero at the top of his game. (Okay, I love "Creepshow", too.) It is one of the most well-crafted suspense movies I have ever seen. It takes a potentially ludicrous scenario and knocks your socks off with it. A quadriplegic law student named Alan (excellently played by the underrated actor Jason Beghe), develops a psychic bond with his nurse-maid monkey, Ella. Alan understandably has a short temper and no sense of humor about his condition; he's not aware, however, that the confused but well-meaning Ella has been acting upon his violent revenge fantasies. It all comes to a head one dark and stormy night when Ella finally goes over the edge and menaces her master endlessly, despite vain rescue attempts by his pals.
How many ways can a little monkey torment a grown man? Plenty, it turns out, if you can't move like Alan. His claustraphobia and terror are wonderfully and effectively splashed across the screen by both Beghe and Romero's camera. The supporting cast, especially the two actors playing his overbearing mother and his best friend Geoffrey (forgive me, I can't remember their names at the moment), is superb. And if the suspense-packed final 30 minutes of this movie don't give you goosebumps a-plenty, you'd better check your pulse.
A couple flaws:
1. An overly cheesy ending preceded by a lame "final scare" (which I hear was forced upon Romero by the studio).
2. A bizarre sex scene which induces either head-scratching confusion or incredulous laughter.
3. The whole "mad scientist" aspect of the plot: WHY exactly does Geoffrey's intelligence-boosting potion wind up linking Ella to Alan psycically? Not explained.
But these flaws are far from fatal. They can be easily ignored, in favor of the immense enjoyment factor of the movie as a whole. Spooky, suspenseful, and frequently touching, it's a great "popcorn" movie. Bravo, George!
Rating: 
Summary: Show me the monkey!
Review: Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) had a bright and promising future. He had a beautiful girlfriend. He was physically fit. All of that is taken away from him in the blink of a headlight, when Allan gets run down by a truck and is left a bitter, hopeless quadriplegic. He loses all zest for life until a sprightly Capuchin monkey named Ella (played by Boo) enters his world. She's been trained to do everything for him, but soon she starts to read his mind... And what's in Allan's mind isn't very nice. Still, Ella is determined to fulfill her beloved master's every wish: Allan think, monkey do.
As someone who is not enamored of Romero's zombie flicks, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Yes, it's hokey here and there, but it never fails to entertain.
Based upon the novel Monkey-shines, by Michael Stewart.
Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies
Rating:
Summary: Monkey Love...
Review: Ella is an extraordinary little monkey! She's so smart and helpful around the house! Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) wouldn't know what to do without her. After Allan's accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, his girlfriend dumped him and ran off with the same doctor who botched Allan's surgery! Allan gave up on life at that point. Luckily, his best friend Geoffery (John Pankow) had an extra monkey (#6) in his genetics lab. He took her to a trainer and she learned quickly how to assist Allan and keep him company. Geoffery should have told Allan that the monkey, now renamed Ella, had been the subject of his brain-boosting experiments, and that she'd been injected several times with human brain serum. Oopsy! Ella and Allan get very attached to each other, seeming to have a near psychic bond. All is well until Allan's internal rage somehow jumps into Ella's tiny simian brain! She begins hurting those who have wronged her master, to the point of becoming Allan's little furry assassin! No one is safe as Ella unleashes her (Allan's) vengence! George A. Romero (Night / Dawn / Day Of The Dead, The Crazies, etc.) has always been good at scaring people. MONKEY SHINES is an interesting tale of obsession, hate, and the consequences of both. The ending is a tad silly, but the rest of the story is top-notch! Worth owning...
Rating:
Summary: Monkey Shines
Review: From a purely animal training perspective this movie is brilliant. Romero did a great job directing these 6, 10 pounds capuchin monkeys to look like 1 monkey did the job. Much harder than Lassie and Flipper.The editing was also very slick. Watch the movie from a technical POV and see if you can find the different monkey faces, bodies and also puppets used in the more intense scenes.I trained them all and was very proud of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Romero's Tragic Film!
Review: I love George A. Romero, I really respect him and it hurts to say "Monkey Shines" Stinks! This is his first movie made with a big company, like most independent directors there big budget movies stink. I loved all his movies made up until this one. Maybe the zombie master died when he ended his dead films with "Day of the Dead". This film is very slow and boring and the ending is so bad I ended up laughing and I never laughed at a Romero film before. I liked all his other movies even the ones that everyone else hated like "The Crazies",Season of the Witch","Knightriders", and "Martin" I own copies of all those films and of course "Dawn of the Dead", "Day of the Dead", "Night of the Living Dead" and "Creepshow" but you won't find "Monkey Shines" in my collection. Sadly this film isn't the same as the others it's missing something? I hate to say this but Romero let me down with this movie. Sadly Romero hasen't made a good film since "Day of the Dead" Is next film "The Dark Half" stunk also. Romero hasen't been the same since "Day of the Dead". I hope the Romero I know and love comes back and makes the good films again!
Rating: 
Summary: Romero's best
Review: I never cared too much for Romero's zombie movies, but I've always thought "Monkey Shines" is an extremely good movie. -His best, actually. It's a brilliant script, and the acting is superb. A very suspensful movie from start to finish. I have the first of its two DVD releases from MGM, but unfortunately the piture quality is not all that sharp (-only slightly better than VHS, I'd say), and therefore no more than acceptable. This is not the first somewhat sloppy disc from MGM, so they better shape up if they want happy costumers. -In their defense I must add that I haven't seen the newest edition, but this Hitchcock-like thriller deserves to look a lot better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Romero's best
Review: I never cared too much for Romero's zombie movies, but I've always thought "Monkey Shines" is an extremely good movie. -His best, actually. It's a brilliant script, and the acting is superb. A very suspensful movie from start to finish. I have the first of its two DVD releases from MGM, but unfortunately the piture quality is not all that sharp (-only slightly better than VHS, I'd say), and therefore no more than acceptable. This is not the first somewhat sloppy disc from MGM, so they better shape up if they want happy costumers. -In their defense I must add that I haven't seen the newest edition, but this Hitchcock-like thriller deserves to look a lot better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor plot, cute monkey though!
Review: I rented this movie expecting tons of gore, but no! NONE! This movie had a poor plot, poor acting, but the monkey was cute. Try to avoid renting this movie, it's just a time-waster.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is pittyfull, a monkey that killed a little, wow!
Review: I rented this movie thinking it was cool but no way! This movie is the booringest movie since The Haunted Benji.Poor.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest movie since Tremors
Review: I was blown away by this movie. This is a very artsey movie and the screen play is fantastic. I laughed through a lot of the movie, but it was filled with suspense. I recommened this movie to everyone, it is a great movie. Yale is better then Harvard Will, yes it is.
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