Review of Monkey Boy (1992) by Jason D — 25 Sep 2009

The horribly titled Monkey Boy (original title Chimera is much more appropriate and fitting) is originally a 4-part British TV film about a secret government lab posing as a fertility clinic that goes up in flames and the entire staff viciously slaughtered by an unknown assailant.

In comes lead, John Lynch, who arrives to the incident to find his girlfriend dead, then sets out to uncover the entire mess in order to seek justice after secretive officials come in and cover-up the entire accident.

The killer turns out to be a genetic hybrid of half man, half ape that hides out in a nearby farm, torturing a family as the rest of the film carries out its espionage storyline. For a TV movie, Monkey Boy isn't that bad.

There's a decent amount of death and violence and the half-horror, half-espionage thriller storyline is engaging enough, though I do wish more had been paid attention to the horror aspect of the film.

The grim ending was also a nice touch. Overall, not a bad TV film. It's definitely obscure enough to probably never warrant a DVD release in the states, but if you happen to come across the film by chance, give it a watch.

You might be surprised by it. Not bad.