Link (1986)

[SeanJoyce]

I was really disappointed in Road Games.

Is this one frightening at all, or just plain dumb? Without having seen it, I echo what somebody up above said, the art is absurdly creepy.

[Aclea]

“There’s just a few rules that you have to remember: 1. You’re the dominant species. You must never, ever treat them as equals. 2. Don’t ever let anything escalate. Always forgive them, whatever they do. 3. Don’t get involved in their squabbles. They sort them out. And 4. Erm, some turds in the hall. Can you clear them up?”

Whenever anyone comes up with that kind of list in a movie you can start ticking off the order in which they’ll be forgotten and place your bets on who dies first, and Richard Franklin’s Link is no exception to the rule. It’s not a particularly ambitious film – it can pretty much be summed as a girl stalked in a remote country house by an unbalanced killer, with the spin being that this time the killer is an ape – but it’s a pleasingly well-crafted and executed one. Unusually for director Richard Franklin the influence here seems to be less Hitchcock than Argento, with plenty of bravura camerawork – complicated tracking shots, long lenses, multiple speeds and step-printed scenes that are far more effective than they have any right to be. Naturally the apes outshine the humans (Elisabeth Shue and a fairly brief but entertaining turn from Terence Stamp), with Locke the Orangutan giving a surprisingly layered turn as Link himself, the unstable former circus hack and “Master of Fire.”

Barely remembered today, it’s one of those films that just got lost in the cracks: a key and very expensive part of Verity Lambert’s catastrophic production slate (The Holcroft Covenant, Wild Geese II, Morons From Outer Space, Bloodbath at the House of Death, Slayground etc) that led to EMI films being sold lock, stock and barrel to Cannon, who promptly dumped it with a token release, the film rarely even turns up on TV these days. But any ape movie with a heroine called Jane (after Jane Goodall, not Tarzan’s mate) that uses both The Kinks I’m An Apeman and Marlene Dietrich’s entrance in a gorilla suit from Blonde Venus as well as offering an infectiously demented Jerry Goldsmith Baroque‘n’Roll score mixing synths, symphony orchestra, calliope and a 7/8 drumbeat definitely deserves a second look.

[Member-222782]

I'm not a big fan of killer monkey movies but this one seems to be highly regarded. Maybe I'll make it a double feature with Monkey Shines, which I have yet to watch.

[Monterey Jack]

Monkey Shines is far superior to this.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Monkey Shines is far superior to this.

I liked Monkey Shines too. It was amazing to see how that monkey was professionally trained, to perform all of those tasks in the movie.

[bsend]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I was really disappointed in Road Games.

Is this one frightening at all, or just plain dumb? Without having seen it, I echo what somebody up above said, the art is absurdly creepy.

It never reaches really creepy territory. It has some suspenseful moments, but I think of it more as "That's a cool concept" rather than edge of your seat.

[bsend]

The "How did this get made" podcast for Monkey shines was a hoot. They referred to Stanley Tucci as "Tooch" for most of the podcast before mentioning that they were referring to Stanley Tucci. Some of the love scenes in it were broken down quite comically as well.

[Monterey Jack]

That is actually a very good thriller, and one of George Romero's best films.

[Catastrophe]

Is 103 minutes the uncut runtime?

I know that when the film changed hands, the studios chopped out rather sizeable sections of it before release so I'm wondering what the correct runtime for the film is.

[EvilJames]

Originally Posted by Catastrophe

Is 103 minutes the uncut runtime?

I know that when the film changed hands, the studios chopped out rather sizeable sections of it before release so I'm wondering what the correct runtime for the film is.

103 mins is the “uncut” runtime for the Cannon theatrical release version, however Franklin’s original director’s cut was somewhere between 114 and 116 minutes long. The original BBFC submission says 115 mins 37 secs, but adding in the extra scenes from the dubbed French DVD only comes to just over 114 mins (when adjusted to NTSC). It will be very interesting to see which scenes from the workprint are on the Blu-Ray.

[thecooldud]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Monkey Shines is far superior to this.

It really, really isn't. And I like Monkey Shines.
But Link is a million times better.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by thecooldud

It really, really isn't. And I like Monkey Shines.
But Link is a million times better.

Glad people love their kill monkey/ape films enough to debate it.

Personally, I think the two films are about equal on the entertainment factor. Link probably wins by a tiny margin, but both are very enjoyable films.

[DukeTogo84]

Link is in stock at Diabolik right now, if you want it three weeks early.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Never saw this one happening, but glad I'm wrong. They used an actual orangutan for this film (despite supposed to be a chimp in the film) and pained it black I believe. Haven't seen this in a dogs age, but will love to revisit it.

The reason for that is orangutans are still quite amenable when they're the size of the one seen "acting" in this movie.

A mature chimpanzee of similar size is an absolute nightmare. Good luck getting a movie in the can and escaping with your face and balls if you have a mature chimp on the set. Any time you see a chimp being compliant in a movie or on TV, it's because it's still a baby.


Just noticed that credited as exec producer on this film is Verity Lambert. The producer who brought Dr Who to the small screen.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Link is in stock at Diabolik right now, if you want it three weeks early.

I ordered from Diabolik but made the mistake of adding something that doesn't get released yet so I'll have to wait.

[EvilJames]

My copy arrived early from Diabolik and I’m going through it now. A couple of things to note:

Although the film has the original Thorn EMI logo and credits, it is the 103-minute Cannon version.

The film features 25 minutes of VHS-quality deleted scenes in the extras, only about 10-11 mins of which are in the dubbed French version, so lots of new stuff for Link die-hands to get stuck into.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by EvilJames

My copy arrived early from Diabolik and I’m going through it now. A couple of things to note:

Although the film has the original Thorn EMI logo and credits, it is the 103-minute Cannon version.

The film features 25 minutes of VHS-quality deleted scenes in the extras, only about 10-11 mins of which are in the dubbed French version, so lots of new stuff for Link die-hands to get stuck into.

How does it look?

[EvilJames]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

How does it look?

The 4K restoration looks lovely, even if the encode isn't quite at David M levels. Still by far the best this film has ever looked.

[DukeTogo84]

So watch this last night as a double feature with Yakuza Law. Wow, the transfer on this is actually REALLY good.

It was really nice watching this again after nearly 20 years. I also switch my previous statement as I had watched Monkey Shines maybe three months ago. This is actually MUCH more entertaining than Monkey Shines.

[DMRI2006]

Disc is mono.

Transfer's fine, but here's yet another stereo film with a mono soundtrack on Blu-Ray. WTF