Romero and starring jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow. We carry books, toys, games, multilingual materials. English and french soundtracks are rendered in dolby digital. Personal born february 18, 1957 some sources say 1954 or 1955, in st. Romero, who also directed creepshow 1982 and the dark half 1993. Monkey shines is a 1983 british psychological horror novel by michael stewart. With jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten. When alan is trying to read a book, it becomes a monumental effort and in a.
When jeff, a scientist friend of his john pankow, who has been experimenting with the injection of human brain tissue into monkeys, learns this, he is prompted to supply one of the. When alan and ella begin to connect to each other mentally, alan feels ellas aggression and ella lashes out with alans anger. Monkey shines hits bluray on november 11, courtesy of scream factory. With jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, and janine turner. As with most scream factory releases, monkey shines looks better than. Mann fails to adjust to his condition, becoming suicidal and despondent. Monkey shines 1988 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
His friend geoffrey john pankow, who is conducting experiments with monkeys, offers allan a welltrained monkey named ella to keep him company and raise his spirits. He began his career onstage in new york, in numerous offbroadway and broadway plays including peter shaffers amadeus, john patrick shanleys italian american reconciliation, and brian friels aristocrats. Injected with human brain cells, a superintelligent female monkey is enlisted to help a. Romero is popularity associated with gore, special effects, and zombies. Monkey shines is really a complex film dealing with the ambiguous nature of human motivations.
Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, janine turner, boo ii, william. In this case, allan, the hero, goes jogging, is struck by a truck and awakens as a quadriplegic. Monkey shines is a 1988 american psychological horror film written and directed by george a. Cast includes jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow and joyce van patten. An experiment in fear the making of monkey shines a lengthy retrospective with george a. Monkey shines is an honorable effort that doesnt quite work. Allans madscientist friend, geoff, injects ella with the. 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. It is the fact that the first half is all calm, and tedious, exposition. At first allan loves little ella, but the monkey seems to grow jealous as allan slowly develops a. John pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest and janine turner are all good as his friends and family. Stephen root and stanley tucci are really good in their small roles, root plays geoffs cold and cruel boss and tucci plays the slimy, smarmy surgeon that steals alans. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1988 by director george a.
While visiting a friend in new york city, pankow auditioned for, and won, a role in a for an episode of pbs great performances entitled life on the mississippi. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1. Allan is a wanttobe lawyer who is training for the olympics and while training gets hit by a truck. Luckily, his scientist friend geoffrey john pankow is experimenting with capuchin monkeys, making them smarter with injections of human genetic material. When the opportunity arises for chance and his new bythebook partner john vukovich john pankow monkey shines to get close to masters. John pankow, offers allan the use of a monkey from his lab. Monkey shines sold out film horror toggle navigation. 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. Monkeyshines 6209 mckee rd, fitchburg, wisconsin 53719 rated 3.
Monkey shines tells the story of an athlete, alan mann jason beghe, who is rendered quadriplegic when struck by a truck. Still, jason beghe gives a fascinating performance as the paralyzed allan, and the monkey played by a capuchin named boo is sensational. More information on the movie is available on and also imdb. John pankow born april 28, 1954 is an american actor. Allan mann jason beghe is the sort of annoyingly perfect guy who puts bricks in his rucksack just to make his morning jog that much more difficult in george a romeros monkey shines released today on dual format bluray and dvd in the uk. I havent read the book so i cant speak with full confidence about the.
The strangest feature of monkey shines is not ella, though. Romero, stars jason beghe and kate mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, and special effects legends tom savini, greg nicotero and everett burrell. He left the university in his junior year after he attended a performance of david mamets the american buffalo at the. Allan mann john beghe is a law student whos hit by a truck while jogging, leaving him a quadriplegic. Romero, and with jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, boo ii, janine turner, william.
All that changes when hes given ella, a monkey trained to meet his every need. He went on to perform in several offbroadway productions including aristocrats, italian american reconciliation, and the new york shakespeare festivals the tempest, two gentlemen of verona and henry viii. The film stars jason beghe as allan mann, an athlete who becomes a paralyzed quadriplegic and develops a bond with an intelligent service monkey. Jason beghe as allan kate mcneill as melanie john pankow as geoffrey joyce van patten as dorothy christine forrest as nurse hodges. Monkeyshine definition is mischievous or playful activity. John pankow, a researcher in craniology, who is absent from his office. Ella is a capuchin monkey, and unknown to alan, part of his friends geoffrey fisher john pankow experiment to increase the intelligence of monkeys. Romero, with jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, at turner classic movies. The newly recorded commentary track even shows that romero has a certain fondness for monkey shines, the dark half and bruiser. Romeros horror film monkey shines comes to dvd with a pair of transfers. The concept is interesting, but the execution leaves much to be desired. New and exclusive feature length audio commentary by travis crawford. Soon allan is bonding with ella, an adorable capuchin monkey, who, unbeknownst to him, has been injected with human brain tissue by drugaddicted scientist geoffrey fisher john pankow. To help alan out, his friend geoffrey fischer john pankow trained a monkey named ella boo the monkey to help him with his paralysis.
The two share a telepathic, otherworldly connection until things go horribly wrong. That image, to me, misrepresents this picture quite a bit, since monkey shines is much more of a drama picture than a true balls out horror film. Monkey shines shows readers the chaos that ensues when a wheelchairbound young man consumes psychotropic, mindenhancing drugs meant to be administered solely to his helper monkey. The movie was released in 1988 and directed by george a. And while its only administered to ella in the movie, the book sees allan. Monkey shines is his first studio picture that looks like a studio picture. Monkey shines is a 1988 george a romero rip adaptation of a 1983 novel by. Romero, based on a novel by michael stewart, directed by george a.
John pankow is electric as geoff and brings a lot of humor to the flick. Though well directed, well written, and well performed, theres something missing from it, a dark heart, that would make it leap out like so many other films in the directors filmography. Trained by a specialist kate mcneil, the animal, renamed ella, becomes his second body, fetching his food and books, dialing the. This film marked his entry into jekyll and hyde fare for about a decade and the entries werent terrible. Romero, stars jason beghe and katie mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, special makeup effects creator tom savini and more. Romero 1988, region a, 1 minutes, rated r bluray released on november 18th, 2014. Overview of monkey shines, 1988, directed by george a. Romero, actors jason beghe, john pankow and kate mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, special makeup effects creator tom savini, special makeup effects assistants greg nicotero and everett burrell and editor. Contemporary theatre, film and television dictionary.
Directed by george romero and based on the book by michael stewart, monkey shines was. But when ella begins anticipating allans thoughts, strange and deadly things start happening. John pankow introduces him to a new helperfriend in the form of capuchin monkey ella boo. New an experiment in fear the making of monkey shines an allnew retrospective with writerdirector george a.
An experiment in fear a mustsee directed and written by george a. A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his. However, things soon turn sour when it becomes apparent that the tinkering of allans scientist friend geoffrey john pankow has made the monkeys loyalty to allen a fatal danger to others. Written by romero, based on monkey shines 1983 by michael stewart. A born and raised in chicago, john is the sixth of nine children. The longer she and allan spend together, however, the more their minds become telepathically linked and ellas. Monkey shines was the start of romeros earnest removal from the world of the dead. It deserves credit for originality, but falls short of the mark. Enter kate mcneil melanie parker, a scientist who is working to provide handicapped people with highly trained animal helpers.
The sf element in this horror thriller is ella, a monkey, the subject of an experiment to increase simian intelligence by injecting human genetic material into her brain see apes as. It is one of those movies that has some of everything. He dabbled in drama during high school, but didnt become serious about acting until enrolled at northeastern illinois university, where he majored in theater arts. An experiment in fear is a 1988 american horror film written and directed by george a. Alternate ending deleted scenes behindthescenes footage. A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the. Following a suicide attempt, allans friend and scientist, geoffrey john pankow.
Monkeyshine definition of monkeyshine by merriamwebster. New an experiment in fear the making of monkey shines an allnew retrospective with george a. A paralyzed mans life is made easier with the help of ellie, a monkey trained to help disabled people get by with their daily lives. Romero and starring jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow, and joyce van patten.
An experiment in fear is a 1988 american psychological horror film written and directed by george a. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, boo ii. Monkey shines has exactly the sort of ridiculous premise that i love the high concept of service monkey on a rampage is very appealing. Its plot follows a quadriplegic man whose service animal, a capuchin monkey named ella, grows increasingly violent. Having received injections to enhance her intelligence, ella is a sympathetic, helpful surrogate caretaker.
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