Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear
Director: George A. Romero
Year Released: 1988
Rating: 1.5
Healthy young man with a pristine future gets hit by a truck - he was on the wrong side of the road - and ends up in a wheelchair; to help him out, his mad scientist friend (who makes monkeys eat human brains as a part of some elaborate experiment) arranges to get the man a Helper Monkey. Overshadowed by the campy performances and obnoxious dialogue (which has the characters referring to each other by name in every sentence) are some excellent ideas (as usual) from Romero: the idea of the quadriplegic's impotence and rage channeled through the monkey - so the monkey does its master's bidding - is original, as is the reversal at the end where the paralyzed man becomes the monkey's pet. But Romero allows the B-grade awfulness and stretched-out plot - the last act ceases to be frightening after it's allowed to go on past its limit - to take over, and that's what keeps this picture from matching the effectiveness of his better films.
