This is not one of those films.
Psycho Ape is a ridiculous story about an ape wearing tennis shoes that, 25 years ago, escaped from the Detroit Zoo and went on a murderous rampage. For some reason, he homes in on a slumber party of a half a dozen young women and he kills all of them except for Nancy, the ape enthusiast, who faints with delight at the sight of the beast.
The zookeeper/animal psychologist, Dr. Zoomis, who is trying to track down the ape, loses its trail, thus beginning his decades-long obsession with the animal.
25 years later, the ape has been continuing its murderous ways. Even though it has a house and built a good life for itself, it just keeps killing. Eventually, the ape finds the long-disappeared Nancy, and they get along great. In fact, she even encourages the brutal beast to slay people who annoy her.
But don’t worry. Dr. Zoomis catches up to them and captures the ape. After ANOTHER 25 years, the creature escapes AGAIN, hooks up with Nancy, and a final fight up the Empire State Building (a la King Kong) ensues. Dr. Zoomis is thrown off; the ape is thrown off. Nancy survives only to be joined by a somehow no longer dead Dr. Zoomis, and they walk off into the sunset, holding hands.
WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
FOR.
REAL.
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| Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. |
Now, to clarify, this is a comedy/horror. It is meant to be farce, silly, ridiculous, over the top, absurd. I know that because the inconsistencies in story and editing and sound and continuity and quality cannot convince me otherwise. Even one of the beginning title cards says this movie is, “the dumbest, cheapest one of them all.”
And I can appreciate that honesty.
I have to admit that I really did enjoy the kills. Death by banana was a fun gag, though not the only way the psycho ape killed people. The f/x was a mix of absolute shite CGI and practical stuff. They were…meh.
I did chuckle a couple of times but most of the humor was a big miss. Nearly every scene had elements or was in its entirety some kind of parody of a larger, more well-known franchise. After a while, that loses its impact and becomes quite tiresome. And don’t get me started on the ten-minute filler scene of two trick-or-treaters arguing about what the best animated film is, or whatever the FUCK they were talking about, while the crew decides to stop filming and join the conversation.
Like, what the hell was that? I actually tuned out and stopped watching the movie until the scene changed and someone either died or started yelling. I honestly don’t remember.
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| Open wide for my beautiful banana... |
And perhaps the explanation of what characters were doing after the events of the film was meant to be funny, considering most of them died at some point. But it honestly just felt like a cheap cop-out and lazy writing. Though it did open it up for Psycho Ape 2.
WHYYYYY though? Who asked for that??
Anyway, though there was obviously passion and fun built into this movie, I cannot recommend it for any sane person to watch. Even someone like me, who is secretly a twelve-year old boy, can only tolerate so much in one sitting.
.5 hatchet out of 5
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