Monkey Shines

1988
R
1h 53m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

13K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:39

1 Video

99+ Photos

Drama Horror Sci-Fi Thriller

A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.

Director
- George A. Romero
Writers
- Michael Stewart
- George A. Romero
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

13K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George A. Romero
Writers
- Michael Stewart
- George A. Romero
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 7 wins & 2 nominations

Trivia
This was the first film role for Stephen Root, then a stage actor. According to Root, he had been instructed by his agent not to let the casting directors know that he was inexperienced with film as an actor. Root's official debut was Crocodile Dundee II (1988), which had been released in theaters a month before this film, despite being shot a month after it.

Goofs
Fisher incorrectly refers to performing an "autopsy" on Ella. An autopsy is performed on human remains. The correct term for examining animal remains postmortem is "necropsy". This is a common mistake for most people, one that Fisher would not make, given his profession.

Quotes
Geoffrey Fisher: You're a clinical cunt.

Crazy credits
"Introducing Boo as Ella"

Alternate versions
Earlier versions of Monkey Shines allegedly contained a bizarre brain surgery scene, as well as several abusive scenes involving the small monkey, Ellie. Although the scenes were all staged and no animals were harmed in the making of the movie, the filmmakers decided it would be better to simply leave them out to avoid conflicts.

Connections
Featured in Document of the Dead (1980)

Soundtracks
There'll Be Another Spring
Written by Peggy Lee and Hubie Wheeler
Performed by Peggy Lee
Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.
Under license from Capitol Special Markets

User reviews97

Review

Featured review

7/10

A classic, no doubt!

Aah, George A Romero - the master himself - does it again. This is a very stylish thriller and perfect study of how man's apparent progress goes horribly wrong.

The film captured my attention from the opening moment. Jason Beghe is perfectly cast in this demanding role. It was interesting (if somewhat creepy) to see how things started going wrong, very subtle at first, and how the situation declined to absolute chaos and mayhem. The romance interest felt very natural and enjoyable. Quite often the romance feels forced into a film; here it seemed inevitable given the circumstances.

This is a true classic!