Monkey Shines (1988)
George A. Romero's name is so thoroughly bound up with the living dead that any film of his sitting outside that tradition tends to get overlooked. Monkey Shines, released in 1988 through Orion Pictures, is a case in point: a psychological horror thriller adapted from Michael Stewart's 1987 novel of the same name, it arrived at an odd moment, sandwiched between Romero's zombie work and a period when mainstream horror was still figuring out whether it wanted to be visceral or cerebral (often settling, not entirely successfully, for both at once). The premise, a recently paralysed man and the increasingly volatile capuchin monkey assigned to assist him, sounds on paper like the setup for a cheap creature feature. What Romero actually made is something considerably stranger and more considered than that tagline suggests. The film sits in that particular late-eighties zone where studio horror was polished but unremarkable on the surface, yet occasionally produced something genuinely odd underneath. Romero had already demonstrated with Creepshow and Day of the Dead that he was not content simply to repeat himself, and Monkey Shines continues that restlessness in a direction few of his fans would have anticipated.
Romero directs from his own screenplay, working from Stewart's source novel with a reasonable degree of fidelity to its psychological core. The production is modestly budgeted but competently mounted, shot largely in Pittsburgh, which had become something of a home base for Romero's output by this point. At 113 minutes it runs a touch long for the material, which is worth knowing going in. The director's career by 1988 was at an interesting crossroads: respected within horror circles, intermittently celebrated by critics, but never quite the mainstream name his influence perhaps merited. Monkey Shines was intended, at least in part, as a more accessible entry point, though Orion's marketing leaned hard into the creature-horror angle in a way that probably set expectations on a collision course with the film Romero had actually made.
The cast is led by Jason Beghe, here in one of his earliest significant film roles, playing Allan Mann, the athlete whose life is transformed by a catastrophic accident. Beghe brings a physical commitment to a performance that is, by necessity, largely restricted to face and voice, and he carries the film's quieter passages on the strength of that alone. John Pankow, who would go on to wide recognition in television, plays Allan's researcher friend Geoffrey, whose experiments with the monkey Ella provide the science-fictional thread running through the story. Kate McNeil brings warmth and credibility to her role as Allan's doctor, and Joyce Van Patten is reliably strong in support. Christine Forrest, Romero's wife at the time, also appears in the ensemble. The monkey herself, played by a trained capuchin named Boo, is genuinely expressive in ways that are either remarkable animal handling or a quiet testament to Romero's patience on set, possibly both.
I recently had one of those bizarre pop-culture lightbulb moments while watching George A. Romero’s 1988 picture Monkey Shines. I suddenly realised this is the exact film that inspired that classic Malcolm in the Middle episode where Craig ends up in a wheelchair with a helper monkey and becomes utterly convinced the creature is out to get him. I had absolutely no idea before pressing play, but it completely reframed the experience.
Romero, the undisputed king of the zombie genre, actually pivoted here to deliver a quirky, creeping psychological thriller that is far more concerned with the mind than the macabre.
As is the way with Romero, beneath the surface of a lunatic primate lies a sharp, deliberate social commentary. The film tackles heavy themes like PTSD, the sudden loss of autonomy through disability, and the subtle, insidious nature of ableism. It’s a cracking premise: a quadriplegic man (played by a highly committed Jason Beghe) is given a trained capuchin monkey named Ella to assist him, only for the animal to develop a dangerously possessive, violent streak. Romero uses this bizarre dynamic to examine the deep frustration and vulnerability of relying on others, turning a seemingly absurd B-movie concept into a genuinely unsettling character study.
I must issue a fair warning, however: if you are coming to this expecting the relentless, gory spectacle of Dawn of the Dead, you are going to be thoroughly disappointed. The pacing is incredibly deliberate, almost languid at times, which means the creeping horror takes a while to truly sink its teeth in. It is a unique prospect, certainly, but that slow-burn approach means some viewers simply won't connect with it. The film demands patience, asking you to sit in the quiet, claustrophobic tension of a bedroom rather than rushing to the next jump scare.
Monkey Shines is a decent, if somewhat uneven, thriller that showcases Romero’s impressive versatility beyond the undead. It might be a bit of a mess tonally for those expecting traditional horror, but the central concept is undeniably fascinating, and the execution is grounded by a solid performance from Beghe. It is a highly watchable, offbeat slice of 80s cinema that proves Romero’s directorial eye was just as sharp when focused on the quiet horrors of human dependency.
Monkey Shines is the kind of film that tends to find its audience slowly rather than all at once, and there is something quietly appropriate about that given its subject matter. It occupies a specific, somewhat eccentric corner of Romero's body of work, one that rewards viewers who come to it without fixed expectations about what a horror film from this era is supposed to deliver. Whether it fully succeeds is, as with most films that take genuine risks, genuinely debatable. What is harder to debate is that it exists as its own thing, which in 1988 was not nothing. Some films take a while to climb inside your head.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1988 | Watched: 2026-07-28
Trailer
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