Blue Monkey on Blu-ray

            I really think I’m finally losing my marbles. Why else would I be so ecstatic about the Blu-ray release of Blue Monkey, a 1987 Canadian sci-fi/horror flick starring Steve Railsback about a giant insect stalking the halls of a hospital. 

            Now I vaguely remember seeing this on 42^nd street when it opened, and checking out an old review from the New York Times (which wasn’t all that negative) they mentioned it opening at the Lyric– one of my favorite crumbling movie palaces on the Deuce. I remember being amused by the film, but the one thing I vividly recall was when an irate theatergoer near me stood up and angrily addressed the crowd around him with: “Where’s the motherfucking Blue Monkey?”

            True the title was beyond misleading and probably didn’t help this at the box office. In fact, the stunning new Blu-ray out exclusively from Dark Force Entertainment (and available on Amazon in February) is now entitled- Insect, which is more to the point. Apparently, a while back Code Red ran a crowd fund-raising campaign for the HD restoration of this film which didn’t last long online. But the final results are pretty amazing for a title that doesn’t run trippingly off the tongues of horror fans around the world. But in my apartment, it is cause for great celebration. 

            Now as to the movie itself, director William Fruet, known for other grindhouse greats like The House by the Lake (aka Death Weekend) and Funeral Home, made this a tribute to the giant bug movies of the 1950s. The movie starts right off. An elderly handyman is helping a senior in her greenhouse when he is bitten by a strange bug which causes such an extreme reaction he is rushed to the hospital. Dr. Rachel Carson (Gwynyth Walsh) is disturbed by the rate of the pus-filled infection on his hand. Detective Jim Bishop (Steve Railsback) arrives at the hospital with his partner, who has been shot. 

            Suddenly, to the horror of the doctors, the elderly patient pukes out a weird, larva-like egg sack. 

            Another Doctor- Judith Glass (Susan Anspach) is brought in to examine this weird larva. Now, a quick rant about Susan Anspach– I always thought she was sensational. Her work in such movies as Five Easy Pieces and Play It Again, Sam, not to mention her work with director Paul Mazursky (Blume in Love) helped reveal how immensely talented she was. I was always a little sad that she didn’t break out like the star I thought she was. But her wonderful, unique quality on screen remains, even in crap like this.

            A bunch of convalescing brats, who are running in packs around the hospital causing havoc, accidentally slip into where the larva is being examined and knock growth hormone onto it (don’t you just hate when that happens?) Look for a young Sarah Polley (another wonderful actress and director) to show up as one of the children. The title of the movie is revealed when one of the kids exploring the spooky basement of the hospital wonders if they’ll find a “blue monkey” down there.

            The insect grows and grows, escaping into the basement of the hospital where it begins laying plenty of eggs and snacking on unwary hospital orderlies and patients. The weird malady of the handyman starts spreading like wildfire throughout the hospital which causes a lockdown and armed soldiers to surround the building not letting anyone in or out. It’s up to the detective and doctors to save the day. And not with a giant can of Raid. “When those eggs hatch, you’re going to have a lot of hungry larvae!” “I think we’d better all stop talking and start looking for the thing right now!”

            A prime example of “Canuxploitation” at the time, mainly because of government funding for movies in Canada at the time. But without that funding we might not have experienced David Cronenberg and other genre greats working during this period. I have to admit that when the Blu-ray arrived I immediately put it on and was in heaven watching it. I could almost smell those 42^nd Street theaters again, that heady mix of Lysol, cigarette smoke and marijuana, the sound of beer cans rolling down the incline beneath my feet towards the screen. I was never happier than sitting in one of those theaters, watching some weird-ass movie with a vocal and enthusiastic audience. 

            “You’ll run from the theater in fright!” promised one ad campaign for Blue Monkey. Well, that surely didn’t happen anywhere this movie played. But it’s a comfort for me that it has been given a second life on Blu-ray. “It’s stupid, but you’ll have a lot of fun!” should have been in the trailer for this monster bug blast.