by Lately I’ve been on a found footage marathon and it continues today with Monkey Farm. Yeah, I know. The name of the film is absolutely ridiculous but it actually does make sense with the subject matter. Despite the off-putting title I found the film moderately enjoyable, and today I’m here to talk about it.
Monkey Farm is set up as a documentary style film. You have a cast of aspiring filmmakers who are out to expose the seedy underworld of animal testing. They begin by interviewing a number of doctors and activists which eventually lead them to a nearby closed down facility known by the locals as the monkey farm. The crew hike out into the desert to investigate, but find almost nothing to help their cause. They stumble upon a number of documents that go into detail about one specific test subject named Samson. This chimpanzee is supposedly the size of a fully grown man whose sensibilities include wearing clothing and emulating the staff in various ways. The catch is that nothing here describes the fate of the beast, and for all our protagonists know he may very well still be alive.
That evening the crew is overheard discussing the matter by some locals who have some input to share. Supposedly Samson is still roaming the grounds, but he only comes out at night. Furthermore there’s a crazy groundskeeper who keeps everyone out. The crew doesn’t necessarily believe everything they’ve heard, and begin arguing about whether or not they should pursue this specific angle or continue with the documentary in a more general way. Curiosity gets the best of them as they track down some more locals with experience in hunting Samson. This father and son team quickly prove that they have a few marbles rolling around when they become enraged when the documentary team makes a joke. With few other options they stop monkeying around and hire the son to help them track down Samson at night to finally put a close to all the rumors floating around about him. Things take a turn for the worse when they finally come face to face with Samson and discover that the rumors about him are all true.
Let me start off by saying that, like all other found footage horror films, this is not a true story. In this case it’s quite a bit more obvious than usual. For starters the acting is absolutely atrocious. It’s clear the cast members are reciting their lines from a script they just read. The dialogue is robotic, and the writing tries too hard to be natural. A lot of the dialogue is a poor representation of how people shoot the breeze, and it can be a little painful at times. Clearly a lot of the dialogue is made up on the spot, but even this feels highly unnatural because the actors are trying too hard. In the film’s defense I actually liked a few of the characters and despite the fact that ridiculous combinations of words constantly come out of their mouth. The next problem I have is with Samson himself. The micro-budget of this feature becomes especially apparent when the primate shows his face on camera. At first I thought it was a joke to be honest. Just imagine the cheapest halloween costume mask imaginable with the most generic sound effects used for his ‘roar.’ It was ultimately the most disappointing moment in the film when I realized that the man wearing a cheap mask was actually what they were passing off for a killer chimpanzee. It’s surreal to watch characters react so strongly to such a badly designed monster.
As I previously mentioned the characters are surprisingly likable. They never get heavy handed with the message of their documentary, and despite being hipsters they’re all pretty likable to be honest. While most of their dialogue is robotic and unrealistic some of the banter is funny. One moment in particular had me laughing; when they watch the video about the father/son team only to find one of the most ridiculous vignettes imaginable. The film has a pretty good sense of humor which goes a long way to making it watchable. With that said the male leads are quite a bit more enjoyable on-screen than the female stars. Within the bad acting is some pretty decent chemistry. When the characters are frightened the actors do a little better, but that’s probably because it’s during nighttime sequences where it actually looks cold outside.
Unfortunately Monkey Farm just isn’t very scary. It’s not even creepy to be honest. The beast doesn’t rear his head until the film is nearly over, and as I mentioned earlier the costume is absolutely ridiculous. Before he shows his face the cast is never in any danger, and most scenes take place during the day. There’s a whole lot of runtime to fill and a lot of it is just everyday dialogue or bickering among the crew. Monkey Farm relies a lot on the build up to Samson’s big reveal but this effect was completely ruined by the cheap costume. In addition the special effects are extremely laughable. A few characters have on-screen deaths but the gore is exceptionally fake looking. The level of camp here is actually kind of funny, and if you’re like me the ending will leave you laughing at its sheer absurdity. Monkey Farm is certainly not one to be taken seriously; I just wish the filmmakers realized how cheesy the end product was going to be.
Monkey Farm is cheesy, badly written, and features terrible performances. I was surprised by the fact that I actually enjoyed it. Somewhat. It’s not a very effective horror film but I was drawn to the character interactions as well as the general theme. No one is going to be scared by this one, but you might find it a decent watch if you go in knowing that there’s no payoff in the end. This is a cheesy but fun found footage film that is somewhat enjoyable.
Pros
- Enjoyable cast
- Good humor
Cons
- Absolutely ridiculous monkey costume
- Terrible acting
