Blood Monkey (2007)

terrible... so disappointed.

Absolutely amazing

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Expertly directed by gifted, BAFTA nominated veteran Robert Young and highlighted by an outstanding performance by Oscar winning actor Abraham, this is a film that deserves to be enjoyed by a wider audience. It features as well a supporting cast of exciting young faces who we're sure to see much more of in the future. The special effects are lackluster due to budget constraints but Young uses his time honored skills to bring the thrills to life in spite of that. Abraham gives a subtly stunning characterization and while watching him work his magic, it is readily realized by any viewer that this is a true artist at work. Every moment he is on screen is mesmerizing and it is obvious why this is someone with an Academy Award for best actor on his night stand. The location shooting in Thailand is fresh and put to superb use and the cinematography is breathtaking. Unfortunately, the script is a bit weak but the actors overcome this through their burgeoning talent. Certainly a film worth seeing in order to see two cinema masters such as Robert Young and F. Murray Abraham work together so beautifully.

This film is directed by the Hammer Horror and British television veteran director Robert Young, not the actor, so the facts are right if you check thoroughly enough. As such, poor film or not, I say that we should be glad that those who provided top class efforts in their youth (and ours) are still working, albeit not in the classy productions that they might wish. I'd sooner Robert Young directed this than not direct at all. I have happy memories of 'Vampire Circus' and 'Charlie Boy' from the dear old Hammer House and I have plenty of good things to say about the TV shows the guy directed, including Minder, GBH and Jeeves and Wooster. Okay, so this is typical exploitation crap, but it is an item of interest through its director's heritage.

I watched BloodMonkey last night on the Sci-Fi Channel and was a wee bit surprised. From all I had read, this was a really, really bad movie and in many ways it wasn't all that great, but I really liked the strange ending. First let's look at what makes it a bad movie. It seems that in the decade of the 2000's one must have a group of young people, mixed male and female, mixed races makes it politically correct, so that is a good thing, if you are into that sort of thing. Now, these young people must be headed to a jungle, faraway island, or some other God forsaken place, where they have no business being in the first place. Now, the cast of characters must include the following: A quite, hero type male. A dizzy blonde female. A bookish dork type. A loud-mouth jock type. A quite, bookish, fairly good looking female who is hoping to hook up with the hero male. Some sort of adult leadership is generally thrown in, in the form of a Professor or other Phd type. This can be a male or female, but is most likely to be male. And throw in a native guide or some such and you have a movie crew. Matt Reeves plays Greg and he is the jock/dork/loud-mouth in BloodMonkey. I rooted for him to go as soon as possible. Ah, the blonde here is played by Laura Aikman as Sydney, who takes a make-up case and cell-phone into the deep jungle. The nerd is Josh, played by Sebastian Amesto, who all in all is not a nerdy as the nerds in other horror movies. Good job Sebastian. The girl with the camera is Danni, played by Frishia Bomambehead. She is the one to film their adventures in paradise or is it hell? You judge. The bookish, quite girl is Amy, played by Amy Manson. She is a jewel in this movie. Just cute enough and smart. Ah, now to our hero, cool guy, and all around leader. Seth is his name and he is played by Matt Ryan. Does a good job with what he has to work with. The semi-adult leader is Professor Hamilton played by F. Murray Abraham, who is an outstanding actor in his own right and must have been bored when he took the job as the "I have a screw loose Professor." The show stealer is Chenna played by Prapimporn Kamchanda. Doesn't talk much and does a great job as the Professor's sidekick and ass kicker in general. Bad to the bone and cute as well, what more could you ask for. Sorry, but I am partial to the Asian ladies. BloodMonkey was filmed in Krabi, Thailand and the scenery is beautiful and that is a good thing. I have given you the basic storyline without revealing too much and if you are a fan of this genre, then you will have seen this basic layout before. I found it to be fun on a boring Saturday night and the only thing missing was the gals swimming in a river sans bathing suits. I really liked the ending. Found it to be a bit of a shocker and really wasn't expecting it, so it helped to make the whole thing worthwhile. I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

--before you set out to write a so-called "Review." I will admit, I have not seen this movie, and now I am not sure I want to (that's how I ended up at IMDb--to find out more about the movie). Normally, I rely upon the reviews listed on IMDb but, this time, I read somebody's "review" that lists none other than "elderly" "tv veteran" Robert Young as playing a role in the movie.Well, Robert Young died in 1998. Really. Check it out. This movie came out during the year 2007; has it really been in the can for ten years? I really doubt it, particularly since Robert Young is not listed among the names of the cast members on the IMDb's own web page about this movie.Hey--if the movie sucks, fine. Let 'em have it. But don't pull "facts" out of your well, rear end, when you're writing your definitive, informative review.