Review: Blue Monkey (1987)
(aka Insect)
Directed by: William Fruet
Starring: Steve Railsback, Gwynyth Walsh, Don Lake
Written by: George Goldsmith, Chris Koseluk
Music by: Patrick Coleman, Paul Novotny
Country: Canada
Available on: Blu-ray (Dark Force Entertainment)
IMDb
First things first: there are no monkeys of any kind in this movie, especially not blue ones. Apparently, this was initially going to be called Green Monkey, but there were conspiracy theories going around at the time about green monkeys spreading HIV, so that title was nixed. Regardless, there are no green monkeys in this movie, either, and the title is never really explained, though the phrase “blue monkey” is uttered once. Instead, there are giant insects that are the result of a growth hormone being accidentally fed to a smaller insect that was birthed from a man’s stomach as a result of him being pricked on the finger by the thorn of an exotic plant from Micronesia. That concept is way more convoluted than it needs to be for a movie that’s an enjoyable but otherwise pretty straightforward throwback to ‘50s “giant animal” monster movies. Blue Monkey takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it’s a reasonably fast-paced and creatively shot flick that leverages well its confined hospital setting via a lot of claustrophobic hallway chases and some unique uses of artificial lighting (including a lot of, yes, blue). One of my favorite things about this movie is the giant insect is brought to life by a person in a rubber suit, which (almost) never fails to create an extra level of believability, especially when the director, like William Fruet, knows how to shoot it. Blue Monkey has an interesting cast featuring Steve Railsback (Lifeforce), John Vernon (Animal House), Don Lake (a bunch of stuff), and a very young Sarah Polley. Everyone does a pretty decent job, although there are some failed attempts at humor, including the comic relief stunt-casting of Joe Flaherty and Robin Duke of SCTV. There’s an extraneous subplot about the giant insect spreading a disease of some kind that might be mitigated by being drunk? It’s only explored for like 5 minutes, though. For a long time, Blue Monkey was stuck on VHS and kind of sought after until the weirdos at Dark Force Entertainment brought it back to life on Blu-ray. I don’t know that it earns its status as a forgotten gem as much as something like Spookies (1986), but it’s a comforting monster movie that won’t ask a lot of you.
Overall rating: 6.5 out of 10
