Monkey Shines

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& ?/Rated R</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>*Blood* *Violent* *Strong Language* *Sexual Situations* *Brief Nudity* *Not Particularly Gory*</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Director.........George A Romero (</B><B>Creepshow, Dawn of the Dead</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Screenplay.......George A. Romero</B></div> <div> <B>Music............David Shire</B></div> <div> <B>Producer.........Charles Evans</B></div> <div> <B>Executive Producer.....Peter Gruenwald & Gerald Paonessa</B></div> <div> <B>Make-up Effects by Tom Savini (</B><I><B>Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th</B></I><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Based on the Novel by Michael Stewart</B></div> <div> <B></B></div> <div> <B><U>Dramatis Personae</U></B></div> <div> <B>Allan Mann...............Jason Beghe (</B><B>Full Eclipse</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Melanie Parker.........Kate McNeil</B></div> <div> <B>Geoffrey Fischer.......John Pankow (</B><B>Talk Radio, To Live and Die in L.A.</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Dorothy Mann..........Joyce van Patten (</B><B>Breathing Lessons, Housewife</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Mary Anne Hodges...Christine Forrest </B></div> <div> <B>Dean Burbage..........Stephen Root</B></div> <div> <B>Dr. John Wiseman....Stanley Tucci (</B><B>Beethoven, The Pelican Brief</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Linda Mann..............Janine Turner (</B><B>Cliffhanger, Northern Exposure-TV</B><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>Doc Williams...........William Newman</B></div> <div> <B>Ella.........................Boo</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Critique</U></B><B>: Mary Anne does a nice job of being a sadistic care giver, and x as the over-possessive mother will make your skin crawl. Perhaps inevitably, Geoffrey holds the screen far better than Beghe as Allan. Beghe's rages were consistently overdone--he was acting. There is a real problem with the drug. Is the drug supposed to have paranormal effects? Why add that into the mix anyway? Increased intelligence would have been sufficient to allow the monkey to see the suppressed anger in Allan. In having the monkey's emotions affect Allan, we get a means of absolving him for what happens to the detriment of the film. Maybe Monkeys are already psychic and the drug simply enhanced the effect. In either case, some explanation would have been helpful. The real effect of all this is to de-focus the movie. As a rule of thumb, the fewer categories under which a film falls the better. In general, after a purposefully grueling start, the movie doesn't plod along as you would expect. With this cast, George Romero, and Tom Savini, however, even </B><I><B>Waterworld </B></I><B>would have been watchable.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Plot Summary</U></B><B>: Olympic hopeful, Allan, gets spooked into the street by a dog and comes away a paraplegic. Allan's friend Geoffrey is working on the enhancement of animal intelligence. Monkey #6, a Capuchin, is injected by Geoffrey with a witch's brew of human brain. His boss, Burbage, under the gun from the anti-vivisectionists, and the pressure is on. Allan is driven to suicide by suffocation--but fails. Allan's wife (Turner) has taken up with his doctor. Things are bleak. However, his friend Geoffrey sets up monkey #6 with Allan thinking that interacting with a human will stimulate its intellectual development. After a bit of operant conditioning for aiding paraplegics, Allan has a new friend. The monkey is a dream, and Allan's ready to go back to law school. Geoffrey can't stop at this and applies a bit more brew to Ella. She is disturbed--why are we surprised?  These Doctor Frankenstein types just don't know when the experiment was a success. When Evil nurse Mary Anne's bird almost pecks Allan's eyes out, Ella decides to put an end to this problem. Mary Anne has surprise waiting for her in her slipper the next morning. Mary Anne tenders her resignation. All in all, it was the wise choice--that Capuchin is getting frisky. The busybody mother takes her place much to Allan's chagrin. Allan, meanwhile, claims he has been experiencing a mind meld with. Why is uncertain. There is evidence that surgery may reverse the paralysis and Wiseman, who has cuckholded him, botched the job. Geoffrey has even grown Capuchin canines, which go away. Presumably this is just a director's conceit. We thought it missed the mark. Allan's angry thoughts about his wife and Wiseman are soon translated into Ella's action. The Capuchin sets a fire as they sleep. Geoffrey has taken on the Capuchin's beastial emotions as the Capuchin has absorbed his intellect. Geoffrey takes the monkey to the lab and Allan begs him not to bring Ella back. Allan and Ella's trainer Melanie have a romantic interlude in which all that practice with his tongue comes in very handy. Geoffrey gives himself the brew and tries to get into psychological contact with Ella. The attempt fails and Ella is out for another jaunt. She shows up at Allan's and he starts raging again--this time at mother. His angry tirade brings mother to slap her paraplegic son. Ella's on the job again. Now Ella's got a razor, and and it looks like Allan's facing a close shave. The bitter Allan, able to manipulate the world only with his tongue is a ready receptacle for the Capuchin's beastial emotions. This much has a certain draw. So much time is spent with Allan's misery that the film will be unbearable for many viewers. For all that, the ending has plenty of suspense.</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Courier New" ><B>                      </B>      </FONT></div> </td> </tr></table></body>