Monkey Shines (film)

United Artists had originally optioned Michael Stewart's novel, Monkey Shines (1983), for a film adaptation in 1984, having purchased the rights for $20,000.[6] The option included film rights to another novel by Stewart, Far Cry (1984).[6] However, seven months later, in 1985, the option expired, after which producer Charles Evans purchased the rights to the novel.[6]

Executive producer Gerald Paonessa commented that he had wanted George A. Romero to direct, as he felt he "had a wonderful, dark sense of humor."[7] Romero was convinced to direct after being shown script treatments of the project.[7]

The film features Boo, a Capuchin monkey, similar to the one pictured

Monkey Shines marked Romero's second feature film produced with a major studio, after 1982's Creepshow, as well as the second most-expensive.[8] The production budget was approximately $7 million.[6] The film was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[9] with principal photography beginning on July 31, 1987.[6] Romero, a longtime resident of Pittsburgh who set most of his prior films there, chose the location.[7] Additional filming occurred at the Mellon Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a private barn in Murrysville, which was converted into the monkey training center which Melanie operates.[10] Interiors of Allan's house were constructed by set designer Cletus Anderson, a longtime collaborator of Romero's.[8]

The film's shooting schedule was extensive, consisting of twelve-hour days.[8] Romero's wife and assistant, Christine (who also appears in the film) commented that it was the "toughest shoot we've ever had."[8] For filming Boo, the capuchin monkey portraying Ella, Romero required multiple monkey doubles.[8] Additionally, four puppets of the monkey were designed by Tom Savini, one of which was remote-controlled, each adorned with yak fur.[8] Helping Hands, a service animal program from Boston, assisted with the monkeys featured in the film.[7] Filming concluded in October 1987.[6]

At the time of filming, Romero commented that "Post-production on this will be very heavy. I hope to be finished by the end of March. It's a huge edit. I'm shooting more film than I ever have because of the monkeys...  As our budgets grow, everything takes longer."[7] The film's distributor, Orion Pictures, was desperate for a hit, as it was in financial difficulty. First, the studio forced Romero to add a happy ending to the picture, a plot device which the director had long avoided in favor of more ambiguous endings; originally, Romero had intended to conclude the film in the same manner as its source novel, in which Allan does not recover from his accident.[11] Second, after poor previews, the studio recut the film without Romero's knowledge to add a "shock" ending.[9]

Another issue was the film's overall length, as Romero had completed a very long and involved shooting script that numbered over 240 pages. This resulted in a first cut of which 40 to 50% of the shot footage met the cutting room floor in the need to get the film reduced to a practical length. Upset with the way his project had been handled, Romero returned to independent films.

Alternate ending

The original intended ending of the film was unreleased until 2014, when it was included as a bonus feature on its debut Blu-ray release. In the original ending, prior to Dorothy and Geoffrey's deaths, Geoffrey's boss Dean Harold Burbage (Stephen Root) steals the remaining brain tissue serum and injects it into all of Geoffrey's remaining test monkeys. After Allan regains his ability to move on his own, Burbage is assaulted by animal rights protesters who had earlier attacked Geoffrey for experimenting on monkeys. Burbage insults them then returns to the lab where it's discovered that all of the remaining monkeys have completely taken control of his mind.

Monkey Shines was released theatrically in the United States on July 29, 1988, opening in 1,181 theaters.[12] It grossed $1.9 million during its opening weekend.[12] It eventually went on to gross a total of $5.3 million in the United States over its 22-week theatrical run.[12]

Several critics compared the portrayal of Ella to that of King Kong

Several critics praised Monkey Shines for its portrayal of its philosophical themes: David Kehr of the Chicago Tribune heralded it as Romero's "most complex and challenging creations... [Romero's] is a style of philosophical fiction that seems hardly to belong to the 20th Century at all, but rather to the 18th Century school of Swift, Diderot and Voltaire. Like those authors, he uses satire as one of his principal tools and principal weapons," concluding that, "Monkey Shines is an extremely thoughtful, provocative film; it's also a damn good horror movie."[13]

Other critics, such as the Los Angeles Times's Michael Wilmington, commented on the film's characterization of Ella, and the relationship between her and Allan; comparing Ella to King Kong, Wilmington noted: "The story’s dark pivot is the symbiosis between Allan and Ella: a match made in hell. Ella, preternaturally sensitive to all her master’s desires, becomes infected with his hatreds--just as, in the lab, she’s been made addicted to a serum containing human brain tissue. It’s not a matter of the beast emerging against the human--but of humans perverting the beast."[5] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post made similar observations about the character dynamic: "Alternating between comfort and revenge, [Ella] seems the ultimate victim, an unwitting pawn. Her scenes with Beghe are at once tender and terrifying as they battle it out to see who's the boss. Some closeups make Ella seem as ferocious as King Kong, but at other times she looks as if she's just been kicked out of the Garden of Eden."[14]

Roger Ebert was less enthusiastic about the film, awarding it two and a half out of a possible four stars; the film's main flaw, wrote Ebert, was its being overlong with too many subplots: "Romero loses momentum in the closing passages because he has too many loose ends to keep track of. Somewhere within this movie's two hours or so is hidden an absolutely spellbinding 90-minute thriller."[3] Caryn James of The New York Times panned the film, writing that the screenplay "wraps up more loose ends than anyone cares about, yet leaves some nagging bits of illogic," also criticizing the film for its "calm, and tedious, exposition."[15]

The film was met with criticism from some disability rights organizations such as ADAPT and Adapting Society, due to an depiction of a toy monkey in a wheelchair in initial promotional materials.[6][16] Members of ADAPT formed a picket line in wheelchairs at the Hollywood Pacific Theater the Saturday of the film's opening weekend.[6] Bill Bolte, a member of Adapt California, commented: "The idea of a monkey attendant turning into a monster is appalling."[16] On August 10, Orion Pictures issued a public apology, removing the content from media advertisements for the film, promising to consult disability experts for promotional materials of upcoming projects.[6]

Monkey Shines holds a 53% approval rating on the internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 32 critic reviews, with its consensus reading: "While not one of horror legend George Romero's more evolved efforts, Monkey Shines delivers enough primal fear to satisfy more forgiving genre enthusiasts."[1] The film possesses a score of 71 on Metacritic based on 14 reviews.[17] Contemporary film scholar John Kenneth Muir deemed Monkey Shines a "harrowing and fascinating film," and praised its realistic depiction of the monkey, Ella.[18]

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on September 28, 1999.[19] Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray for the first time in November 2014.[20] In November 2019, Scream Factory announced this Blu-ray would be going out of print in 2020.[21]