Ape-ril: For the Love of Monkey Movies 

As Stephen Hawking once said, “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” It’s in that spirit that every year, for the entire month of April, my partner and I devote ourselves to a screening series unified not by genre, not by director, or actor, or era… but by monkeys. We call it Ape-ril, and often it can feel like speedrunning that old saw about infinite monkeys with typewriters trying to write Hamlet (there are more bad monkey movies in Heaven and Earth, dear reader, than are dreamt of in your philosophy). But other times?

Well, actually, no. I’m not going to try and tell you that watching monkey movies for a full month out of every twelve will help you better understand the universe and our place in it, as my use of a Stephen Hawking quote and a Hamlet quote might suggest. But it doesn’t not do that, either. I guess what I mean is this: Monkeys (and apes in general–– monkey just sounds better) are a great cinematic cypher for humanity. They’re just like us, our evolutionary cousins, recognizably human in many of their gestures and expressions while also remaining fundamentally other, uncanny in their unknowability, in their very monkey-ness; this combination means they can be cute or creepy, funny or philosophical in turn. They’ve been used to great and varied effect across all manner of media, monkeying their way into our hearts, trying to write Hamlet on Adult Swim. Ape-ril is a state of mind, a commitment to the absurd, the goofy, the simian, and I’d honestly recommend you try it out, even if it’s only for the last week of the month. 

Here are some highlights from our adventures in Ape-ril, going beyond classics like Tarzan and King Kong for weirder fare. It might seem a little unhinged, but though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.

1. Better Man (2024)

In case you missed it, last December, the British pop superstar Robbie Williams (who no American has ever heard of–– for my part I can only assume he’s some sort of glitch in the Matrix) starred in his own jukebox musical biopic… as a CGI monkey. This fabulous, bloated, epic-yet-cookie-cutter tale of sex, drugs, and rock n roll is undeniably magnetic, bizarre just as much for its commitment to heartfelt dialogue about being true to yourself as it is for its commitment to showing its viewers a monkey feuding with Oasis, shooting heroin, and threatening to flay itself alive. It’s also incredibly well produced and entertaining, with slick musical numbers and an Oscar nomination for its monkey CGI under its belt. (Fun fact: Last year not one, not two, but three of the Best Visual Effects nominees featured CGI monkeys, Better Man, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Wicked.) Better Man is a story about a singer feeling “a little less evolved” than the people around him, and having the supreme gumption to make that as literally obvious as possible. It’s also a clear cult classic in the making. Prepare to get “Rock DJ” stuck in your head ‘til the day monkeys take over the world. 

2. Congo (1995)

Five time Academy Award-nominated producer Frank Marshall (Indiana Jones, Jurassic World) put himself in the directing chair for this 1980 adaptation of a lesser-loved Michael Crichton caper about lasers, diamonds, the CIA, lava, and a territorial gorilla cult. Starring Laura Linney and an adorably nefarious Tim Curry doing a horrible Romanian accent, this film is beloved by a weirder subset of millennials with too much childhood access to afternoon cable. Congo’s hybrid action-fantasy-adventure features, among other things, Amy the sentient gorilla smoking weed (“Amy, don’t inhale!”). More than anything, this movie reads like a live-action cartoon and, like Better Man, has the hallmark of all the best monkey movies. It begs the question: Why did they make this? Unlike Robbie Williams’ chimp opera, though, it did well at the box office.  

3. Max, Mon Amour (1986)

Max, Mon Amour may be the artiest monkey movie ever made, at least in terms of the talent involved. Directed by Japanese New Wave idol Nagisa Ōshima, best known for controversial, sexually explicit films like In the Realm of the Senses (1976), produced by Kurosawa and Buñuel collaborator Serge Silberman, and written by Oscar-winning novelist-screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Unbearable Lightness of Being) this is a story of forbidden lust… between a diplomat’s wife (Charlotte Rampling) and a chimpanzee named Max (designed with the help of monkey-making MVP Rick Baker) who she bought from a circus. This odd little drama takes its satirical cues from its highly intellectual creative team, blending the absurdism of The Exterminating Angel with the sordid marital drama of films like Possession. Far from rejecting his wife’s newfound love of bestiality, the British ambasador to France (Anthony Higgins) welcomes the chimp into their home and begs his wife to let him watch their rendezvous. Parlor room drama, sexual adventure, and plenty of food-throwing ensue. This one must be seen to be believed.

4. The Planet of the Apes Franchise

Planet of the Apes is an unambiguous classic of ‘60s sci-fi. It’s thoughtful, engaging, a classic for a reason. There are, however, nine more of these things, which we all know should never have been made in the first place. However! I for one am glad they decided to ignore common sense or artistic integrity on this one. Your mileage and taste may vary on almost all of them–– the series as a whole carries the distinct sensation that someone fell asleep at the helm and crash-landed on earth too far in the future. 

For masochists, monkey completionists, and fans of B-movies, though, the four sequels produced in the seventies each have their own charms (I’m a Beneath the Planet of the Apes defender–– mole men!) and glaring sets of failures (I’m an Escape from the Planet of the Apes hater–– “grape juice plus…”). Consensus seems to suggest that Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (ape Civil Rights!) is the best of the four. 

The franchise’s middle of the road is arguably Tim Burton’s weird one-off 2001 remake of the original film starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, and Helena Bonham-Carter. Wahlberg’s signature open-faced, bewilderment and naivé incredulity brings a spritely joie de vivre to the image of thousands of enormous musclebound apes in medieval suits of armor charging at him full speed to tear his merry band of rebels apart. Like Max, Mon Amour, this film also offers the comic spectacle of Mark Wahlberg’s character completely ignoring a human woman in favor of a femme chimp scientist. Women in STEM! 

You may be thinking to yourself at this point, “isn’t there a whole new series, with instalments still coming out today, that’s actually pretty well regarded?” Yes, yes there is. I personally think it’s pretty boring (except for War for the Planet of the Apes–– Woody Harrelson doing Ape-pocalypse Now!), but the most recent four films are still absolutely the safest bet for the viewer looking for “quality” in a monkey sci-fi movie. But is that what we’re looking for in a monkey sci-fi movie? You be the judge. 

5. HUMANZEE! (2008)

HUMANZEE! is the first film on this list to (intentionally) bring the horror out of the monkey movie premise. This misbegotten black comedy short film by James Gunn was, according to the director, originally funded by XBox–– until, that is, they saw what he’d had done. It’s a creepy little story about a couple of sadistic frat boys gone to seed who send in their sperm to a company that makes human-chimp hybrids and ships them to your home in a box. The guys proceed to haze their Humanzee son (played by Sean Gunn) until he snaps, as could be expected. It’s deliciously creepy, with the comic sense of violence more recently applied to Oz Perkins’ own recent contribution to the genre, The Monkey. Plus, James Gunn has joked that this short got him his gig directing Guardians of the Galaxy. So thanks, HUMANZEE! It’s a worthy addition to anyone’s Ape-ril. 

6. Schlock (1973)

Believe it or not, John Landis’ directorial debut was a pastiche-y horror comedy about the missing link wreaking havoc in Southern California. It lovingly riffs on B-filmmaking, King Kong, Godzilla, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the scrappy comedies of its era: More than a concrete narrative, the film is almost a series of zippy, manically creative skits à la Airplane! or Flying Circus. Where Max, Mon Amour’s pleasures are to be found in its contrasts (the gravity of its tone versus the openly creepy topic at hand and the absurdist framing deployed), Schlock is a raucous, good old-fashioned comedy. “First Birth of a Nation,” the trailer intones, “then Gone With the Wind… Love Story, See You Next Wednesday” a fake movie-within-the-movie, “and now… SCHLOCK!” 

7. The Mafu Cage (1978)

The Mafu Cage is the most disturbing and serious monkey movie I’ve encountered in all my Ape-rils. This sensational, tonally disquieting Carol Kane vehicle is a psychological thriller about mental illness, familial responsibilities, and the ties that bind directed by Karen Arthur, the first woman to win a primetime Emmy. Kane plays a young, childlike woman, Cissy, obsessed with her “mafus,” or monkeys she keeps in a giant cage and draws. Long story short, she’s not a good pet owner. When her older sister and caretaker realizes she wants a life of her own, Cissy’s vicious temper begins to turn outward, from her mafus to the humans they so closely resemble. Kane is haunting and enigmatic in the lead, evoking both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The Mafu Cage more than earns its place in cinema’s House of Psychotic Women, and for horror aficionados, it’s well worth the watch. 

8. Monkeybone (2001)

Monkeybone is the Freddy Got Fingered of monkey movies. This theatrical bomb, the first and last live-action movie directed by renowned animator Henry Selick (Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas), tells the tonally jarring story of a comatose animator named Stu (Brendan Fraser) whose body is being taken over by his raunchiest cartoon, a creepy little chimp called Monkeybone. Trapped in this movie’s equivalent of Toon Town while Monkeybone roams our live action world, Stu has to cheat death to put things right. Like many of the films on this list, the talent behind Monkeybone, which includes Whoopi Goldberg, Bridget Fonda, and Rose McGowan, is batting far higher than Monkeybone itself. But the film nevertheless remains an entertaining curiosity, and Fraser’s charms keep it from flying (all the way) off the rails. On second thought, maybe you should just watch his other monkey movie, George of the Jungle (1997) instead…

9. Monkey Shines (1988)

On top of his contributions to the zombie genre, George Romero also brought us one of the better monkey horror films, a paperback thriller called Monkey Shines. In this straightforward chiller, Allan (Jason Beghe), a quadriplegic law student, agrees to an experimental therapy, inviting a Capuchin monkey named Ella into his home to serve as his service animal. With the push of a switch on the headrest of his chair, the adorable trained monkey will change the channel on the TV, bring him his lunch, or turn off the lights. Unfortunately for Allan, Ella is a little too attached… This cult film far surpasses most entries in the largely-disappointing monkey horror subgenre, comfortably playing like an episode of The Twilight Zone. 

10. Dunston Checks In (1996)

Ape-ril wouldn’t be complete without a monkey movie for kids. This is almost certainly the most pervasive kind of monkey movie (for reference: Robert Vince, director of over a dozen straight-to-VHS Air Bud sequels, also directed five monkey movies with titles like MXP: Most Xtreme Primate). They can also be the least pleasant to watch. Not so with Dunston Checks In, an adorable screwball caper about a boy and his orangutan living in a New York Hotel, told sweetly and with professional panache director Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and his cast, which includes Jason Alexander, Faye Dunaway, and Paul Reubens. Dunston Checks In also boasts the best monkey acting I’ve ever seen in a film from Sammy the Orangutan, of whom the director still spoke fondly during a Q&A I attended last Ap(e-)ril. For pure monkey business, look no further than Dunston Checks In. 

Happy Ape-ril!