A rare plant from somewhere near Micronesia is carrying a nasty kind of bug. Its bite causes serious infection, and as it turns out makes the victim become host to an unknown larva, which, a few mishaps later, grows quickly and wants to reproduce...
So this is a monster movie from the 80s. That in itself tells us a lot: It's got poodle haircuts with perms, too many colors, Korg M1 synth music, and the monster leaves a lot of slime behind. In "Blue Monkey" we also have the cop guy, the buddy cop guy, the hot blonde, the stoner guy that causes trouble, the nerd guy, the old lady that has a quirky best friend old lady, not one, but two female doctors, the kids with leukaemia, the... wait a minute.
Indeed, what starts as a pretty default, sometimes silly, 80s monster movie that moves forward a little too quickly and too bluntly, soon shows a couple of unexpected features. It has all the standard ingredients of such a type of movie, but there's a little more depth to it than usual. Yes, right from the beginning you pretty much know where this will go, and it does have some cheap and laughable moments. But it's a little less predictable and over the top than you might think. There's some beautiful, nuanced acting in some of the scenes, as are there moments of genuine inspiration and seriousness. The hospital setting with its panopticon of characters, each of which has some backstory, hints at a subtext that might be worth analysing. "Blue Monkey" also has a good amount of "Terminator" and "Alien" influence - and it's actually pretty thrilling.
If this movie had a little more character development, and maybe a little more time and money put into special effects, it would be a real smasher. As it is, it's a very watchable, sometimes genuinely gripping, above average creature shocker.
Verdict: Quite nice. Recommended. 6.5/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092677/
Trailer video:
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