History Film / MonkeyShines

''Monkey Shines'' (1988) is a horror movie directed by Creator/GeorgeARomero and starring Creator/JasonBeghe, Kate [=McNeil=], John Pankow, Creator/JoyceVanPatten, Creator/StanleyTucci, and Creator/StephenRoot. It was based on the 1983 novel by British author Michael Stewart.

* AxCrazy: Downplayed, but even if she didn’t kill anyone that we know of, Dorothy's still a somewhat deeply disturbed woman who is driven to emotionally and occasionally physically hurt others who dare oppose her selfish ways, in this case her own quadriplegic son Allan, even in his physically helpless state. There is a possibility after Allan's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her that Dorothy would have played this trope straight by [[EvilPlan plotting]] to [[OffingTheOffspring murder Allan]] out of spite and retaliation for insulting her]] and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like he either had an accident, or attempted suicide again and succeeded]]. Ella is this especially as she did all the killing in the book and film.

* BrokenAce and BitchInSheepsClothing: Dorothy doesn't care about Allan or anyone else, she only cares about herself and her wants and is looking after him to [[EmptyNest fill the empty greedy black hole that is her own life]].

* BullyingTheDisabled: Linda, Wiseman, Maryanne and his mother Dorothy all do this to Allan.

* DeathByRacism: Most of Ella's victims had been BullyingTheDisabled towards Allan out of ableism.
* DrJerk: and {{Narcissist}}: Dr. John Wiseman is a sleazy surgeon who's so overconfident and egotistical that sometimes he misses things and only cares about his pride, not the effectiveness of his work. It was his massive ego that caused Allan's condition. If Wiseman had paid more attention during the surgery, Allan wouldn't have been quadriplegic. You don't feel sorry for him when he's killed. The only time he ''does'' show concern for Allan was after his suicide attempt as he tells Dorothy to go back home as she's only going to make his situation worse if she plans to move in, although it's also possible he told her this as her making the situation worse would repeatedly result in Allan attempting suicide and it would inconvenience him and also result in Allan finding out about his relationship with Linda.
** Subverted with Dr. Williams, another Neurosurgeon who unlike Wiseman, puts his patients' well being first and while slightly older, mostly middle aged, is both far more experienced and competent than Wiseman. He still has doubts about giving Allan surgery and the effectiveness of it, unless he has proof that Allan can make a voluntary movement, even if it's only a finger or a toe, to which he will agree to operate. When Allan is able to move his right arm as part of his killing Ella and Saving Melanie, Williams is the surgeon to undo the quadriplegia, giving Allan his body back.

* IHaveNoSon: Dorothy doesn't actually say this, but after [[BerserkButton angrily and violently slapping Allan in retaliation for calling her out on her unpleasant and unrepentant nature much that insulted and outraged her]] to intentionally ignoring Allan's warnings in the bath out of her own vanity, Dorothy seems to vehemently and selfishly disown Allan as her son. If Ella hadn't murdered her, Dorothy would've packed up and moved out of Allan's life with the intent of never coming back out of pride, preservation or worse the reverse, she could've literally kicked Allan out of his own house, due to having to sell her own home and business to move in with him and never wanting to see him again after perceiving him to being ungrateful for her "care", possibly deliberately without informing Melanie or his other friends so they could never find him as he rots away alone somewhere for dead. [[TakeTheThirdOption Or another possibility which is much more heinous in comparison to the last two theories if Dorothy had lived]], she would have [[EvilPlan plotted]] to [[OffingTheOffspring murder Allan]] out of spite and retaliation for insulting her]] and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like he either had an accident, or attempted suicide again and succeeded]], making Ella killing her a VillainousRescue for her master Allan.

* MyBelovedSmother and ItsAllAboutMe: Allan's mother Dorothy, who only moved in to look after him without his consent and before he could make other plans, to Dominate him and treat him like a child. It also turns out that she was responsible for Allan's neighbors moving away when he was a kid, not because she was a realtor, but because they found her unpleasant. She also gains animosity and contempt towards Allan's new girlfriend Melaine Parker, a specialist in quadriplegia and helper Monkeys who trained Ella. Dorothy believes that Melanie asked Allan to get rid of Ella and says "You do anything ''She'' asks in a Minute.", in a rather nasty tone. When Ella escapes Geoffry's lab and makes her way back to Allan's house, Allan, while under her influence calls his mother out on her behavior saying that she doesn't really care about him or anybody else as she's only doing this for herself. When Allan [[BerserkButton calls her out, she then angrily slaps him once, causing him to break out of Ella's influence]]. [[AbusiveMom An outraged and insulted Dorothy, instead of realizing her mistake right away, starts violently slapping him repeatedly]] and when he's under Ella's influence again, he menacingly tells her that she deserves whatever she gets and that [[YoureNotMyMother he hates her]]. For being so unrepentant, you don't feel sorry for her when she becomes Ella's fourth victim.

* TheSociopath: It seems Dorothy appears to be a low functioning one, as she is appears to be an unrepentant, selfish and manipulative scumbag who cares only for herself so much, that she even abuses her physically helpless son Allan when he doesn't give her the [[EntitledBitch entitlement she believes she should deserve despite her unpleasantness]].

* VillainousBreakdown, Before Ella's first kill, the injection of the brain serum into her makes her angry and violent, as well as beginning her psychic link to Allan meaning her presence causes his anger to come out and when she's angry, he becomes angry when he's not. There's also when Allan's uncaring nurse's pet bird attacks Allan in his bed, he's angry and frightened, the latter because the bird's trying to peck his eyes out, which causes Ella to fear for her "master" and become violently angry.

* {{Yandere}}: Ella and Dorothy are ones for Allan.

And now, as fate would have it, one of them is dead...\\
--'''[[https://youtu.be/nb4b1feJHb8 Trailer narration]]'''

* AssholeVictim: The murders committed by Ella are of unlikable and unrepentant characters, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone even though Allan felt guilty]] [[AlasPoorVillain for feeling to have cause their deaths]]. First there's Allan's uncaring nurse's pet bird that attacks Allan in his bed, and gets its neck snapped in retaliation overnight. Next, Ella goes after Allan's ex-girlfriend Linda Aikman, who left him because of his condition and his egotistical and incompetent neurosurgeon Dr. John Wiseman after Allan finds out that Wiseman is the true cause of him being quadriplegic and about their relationship, burning down Linda's cabin with Linda and Wiseman in it while they're having sex. Next Ella goes after Allan's abusive, selfish and domineering mother Dorothy, who moved in to look after Allan to dominate him and to treat him like a little kid again, electrocuting her in the bath tub. Allan's friend Geoffrey Fisher, who inadvertently turned Ella into a killer also counts because he was more concerned about his work than his friend. Even when he tried to kill Ella, he refused Allan's pleas for real help as he didn't want his reputation ruined and wanted Ella's murder spree kept secret. Ella soon becomes one herself.
* AxCrazy: Downplayed, but even if she didn’t kill anyone that we know of, Dorothy’s still a somewhat deeply disturbed woman who is driven to emotionally and occasionally physically hurt others who dare oppose her selfish ways, in this case her own quadriplegic son Allan, even in his physically helpless state. There is a possibility after Allan's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her that Dorothy would have played this trope straight by [[EvilPlan plotting]] [[OffingTheOffspring to murder Allan]] [[EvilIsPetty out of spite and retaliation]] for insulting her and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like he either had an accident, or attempted suicide again and succeeded]]. Ella is this especially as she did all the killing in the book and film.

** When the cards are all down, Dorothy reveals herself to be one of [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norma Bates]][[note]]Speaking of Norma, Dorothy's actress Joyce Van Patten was married to actor Martin Balsam, who played Milton Arbogast in ''Psycho'', from 1959 to 1962, and they had a daughter, actress Talia Balsam.[[/note]] [[CompositeCharacter and]] [[Literature/{{Misery}} Annie Wilkes]].

* IHaveNoSon: Dorothy doesn't actually say this, but after [[BerserkButton angrily and violently slapping Allan in retaliation for calling her out on her unpleasant and unrepentant nature much that insulted and outraged her]] to intentionally ignoring Allan's warnings in the bath out of her own vanity, Dorothy seems to vehemently and selfishly disown Allan as her son. If Ella hadn't murdered her, Dorothy would've packed up and moved out of Allan's life with the intent of never coming back out of pride, preservation or worse the reverse, she could've literally kicked Allan out of his own house, due to having to sell her own home and business to move in with him and never wanting to see him again after perceiving him to being ungrateful for her "care", possibly deliberately without informing Melanie or his other friends so they could never find him as he rots away alone somewhere for dead. [[TakeTheThirdOption Or another possibility which is much more heinous in comparison to the last two theories if Dorothy had lived]], she would have [[EvilPlan plotted]] [[OffingTheOffspring to murder Allan]] [[EvilIsPetty out of spite]] and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like he either had an accident, or attempted suicide again and succeded]], making Ella killing her a VillainousRescue for her master Allan.

** There's also Allan's unrepentant mother Dorothy, who sold her business and home to look after Allan and who may not seem like it, is actually the secondary villainess as she's only looking after him to dominate him. When it's made clear that he doesn't want her there and prefers Melanie, she suffers a MotiveRant breakdown hysterically haranguing [[DudeWheresMyRespect "Do you have ANY idea how much you made me cry?! "Do you have any idea worthless you made me feel?!]] [[EmptyNest How alone?!]] [[DudeWheresMyRespect I've given up EVERYTHING FOR YOU!"]], which Allan, under Ella's influence calls his mother out, telling her she's doing this for herself and how horrible she is and that he wants her out of his life, [[BerserkButton causing her upon feeling outraged and insulted]] [[AbusiveMom to violently slap him]]and [[IHaveNoSon completely disown him as her son]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Given she is a StepfordSmiler, but also a mean spirited selfish ControlFreak at the same time which surfaces when she refuses to take no for an answer or have Melanie look after Allan, it's possible Dorothy suffers from bipolar disorder.