The name Blue Monkey has nothing to do with this movie.
I’m a big Steve Railsback fan so when I ran across this movie I had to put it on my list to watch. It’s one of those hard to find movies and now it’s one of my favorites.
It has no real plot to it. A man pricks his finger on an exotic plant from a newly formed island in the Pacific that is growing in a friend’s greenhouse. He develops a fast growing infection and is taken to the hospital where detective Jim Bishop (Steve Railsback) has just brought in his partner who was involved in a shooting. Right then the old man has a seizure and a giant worm-like parasite comes out of his mouth. The parasite is brought to a lab to be examined later. At the same time others come down with the same infection and the hospital is quarantined. Some kids who have escaped from pediatrics sneak into the lab and run across the parasite. Thinking that the parasite looks hungry they feed it some genetic growth stimulant that happens to be lying around. Bang! Giant bug-like creature wreaking havoc all over the hospital.
From then on it’s a full scale riot outside with the hospital locked down and troops surrounding it shooting anyone who tries to leave. Inside the bug is running rampant and infection is spreading everywhere. Then there are the two drunken old ladies. It’s a riot.
And now it’s up to detective Bishop, Dr. Rachel Carlson (Gwynyth Walsh) and Elliot Jacobs (Don Lake) the entomologist to solve all the mysteries surrounding the bug and the infection raging through the hospital.
It takes a while before you get to the bug and you don’t see a lot of it but that didn’t seem to matter since there’s so much else going on. This is also before CGI was used so the insect is a giant puppet. It’s still creepy and intense. Some of the movie takes place down in the tunnels of the hospital were everything is dark and bathed in blue light which adds to the creep factor. There’s some camp and a little cheeze to spice things up but mostly creep and spooky music. To me one of the grossest parts is when they find the nest and there are hatchlings feeding on the people who are still alive. It really is a wild ride.