Monday, August 1, 2016

(Really) Rare Flix: Blue Monkey (aka Insect)

Well, it's about time I get to this.  I found this one long, long ago at the request of Maynard (of the titular Horror Movie Diary) and saved the link.  I finally decided to, you know, see it for myself.  Today's Film is Blue Monkey, a 1987 Horror Film that is super-obscure.  To get this out of the way, I'll tell you that it does not feature a Blue Monkey.  I understand if you leave now, but you'll miss alot.  The Film tells the tale of a simple accident that leads to a humanoid monster.  It takes a serious of ridiculous events to make it all happen.  How the hell does all of this even take place?  A man gets scratched by a plant and then all sorts of crazy stuff happens.  The Film comes to us from William Fruet, the man behind a ton of TV Movies, Episodes and random Horror Films.  I haven't seen any of them, so I can't say much about them.  Out of the 2 Writers, one adapted Children of the Corn in 1984 and the other only wrote this.  Of more interest is the odd mix of Cast Members that includes Howard Vernon, Steve Railsback, Joe Flaherty and a young Sarah Polley (!).  Thanks for that last one, IMDB.  Does this Cast tell you anything about what kind of Film this is?  To find out how odd this is, read on...
A nice old man is scratched by a strange plant while hitting on a Client and suddenly passes out.  He is taken to the Hospital and, yeah, he's not doing great.
At the same time, a Cop (Railsback) ends up at the Hospital with his partner and immediately hits on the Doctor.
Here's where things get weirder...

After a failed attempt to hit on her, she takes him around the Hospital and reveals that they have...a Laser Laboratory!
The Boss- Vernon- tries to corral the situation as more people get sick and things escalate.
The Doctors and Nurse try to find out the secret of the creature and, yeah, things go badly.
To help confuse the tone, we have...

- Joe Flaherty as a Comedic Would-be-Dad
- Sick Kids who wander around the Hospital.
- Wacky Entomologist showing up.
To complete the creation of the Monster, the kids wander around and find the tiny creature.  When it is left unattended, they accidentally dump some powder on it and it grows gigantic.  Oops.

If you want to know where the Title comes from, the kids speculate about what the creature might be.  Yep, that's it.
You finally get a little bit of the creature near the end, but the lack of a good, HD Version out there makes it a little hard to enjoy.  Looks neat at times though.
With all sorts of problems, they naturally solve them with a laser.  The Monster is blown up.  The End.
A strange Film, to say the least.  Blue Monkey.  What can I say?  It isn't about a Blue Monkey.  It sure as hell gets pretty blue lit in the last third.  Even so, there is no Monkey.  Is it a Comedy?  No, it sure is full of death, violence and chaos.  Is it a Horror Film?  Mostly, but it does also feature SCTV Alumni Joe Flaherty in a Supporting Role.  So, in summary, it is a Horror Film with a Comedian, a Comedy with murder, it doesn't feature a Monkey and it is just kind of strange.  Blue Monkey- it's a Film.  It's weird.  Speaking of weird, does this look infected to you?
Next up, a Brazilian Film with a bizarrely-on-the-nose title.  Will this Art Film get the Gold?  Stay tuned...

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