Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A quadriplegic man is given a trained monkey help him with every day activities, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master and those who get too close to him.
Monkey Shines is a genuinely singular entry in the horror genre — a Romero film that trades zombies for a murderous capuchin monkey acting as a psychic surrogate for a paralyzed man's repressed rage. The premise is memorably strange and the film earns high Novelty for its unsettling exploration of dependency, disability, and projected emotion, drawn faithfully from the source novel. The acting is competent and grounded, with Jason Beghe delivering a committed lead performance under physically demanding constraints. The plot builds its tension steadily and the science-run-amok angle is handled with more seriousness than most B-horror fare. Cinematography is workmanlike — functional but unremarkable for Romero at this stage. The ending, however, fumbles badly, resolving with a bizarrely abrupt and almost cartoonish climax that undercuts the psychological dread the film had carefully constructed throughout.