Melanie Verlin Movies
A quadriplegic former athlete finds his darkest urges being acted out by an animal familiar in this psychological horror film. When Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) loses the use of his legs and arms in an accident, he becomes bitter -- no surprise given that his girlfriend dumps him for his surgeon, his new nurse (Christine Forrest) is a shrew, and his smothering mother (Joyce Van Patten) keeps threatening to move in and take care of him. Enter Kate McNeil (Melanie Parker), a scientist who is working to provide handicapped people with highly trained animal helpers. Soon Allan is bonding with Ella, an adorable Capuchin monkey, who, unbeknownst to him, has been injected with human brain tissue by drug-addicted scientist Geoffrey Fisher (John Pankow). At first Allan loves little Ella, but the monkey seems to grow jealous as Allan slowly develops a romance with the beautiful Kate. Meanwhile, Allan begins having strange dreams in which he experiences the world from a monkey's-eye point of view. These visions culminate in a fiery nightmare -- the same night Allan's ex-girlfriend and her new lover die in a house fire. Realizing the growing link between his own inner demons and the violence occurring around him, Allan tries to sever the connection with Ella. But the limitations of even his high-tech wheelchair give the psychic primate the upper hand. Written and directed by horror veteran George Romero, Monkey Shines re-teams the filmmaker with his frequent collaborator, Christine Forrest. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Beghe, John Pankow, (more)
In this occult horror film, director John Russo, best known for Night of the Living Dead, has created a few twists on the plot of a heroine escaping one evil, only to encounter another, even worse. Some asides on the nature of racism are thrown in for good measure. After Nancy Johnson (Melanie Verlin) runs away from home because her drunken stepfather (Lawrence Tierney) tried to rape her, she is given a ride by two men who are actually thieves, and they all end up prisoners of a Southern family of Satanists. They plan on offering Nancy to the Devil himself at midnight on Easter Sunday. Some cinematic goofs -- Easter Sunday apparently falls in autumn since the leaves are turning color outside, and the "South" looks a lot like Pittsburgh -- are somewhat off-set by the make-up artistry of Tom Savini and a lively performance by Lawrence Tierney. Yet the pace is slow and the lesser protagonists solidly one-dimensional, tipping the balance more toward the minus -- which may be a plus to some viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lawrence Tierney, Melanie Verlin, (more)
