simonwoodwrites

Her Last Broadcast highlights what is wrong with a lot of true crime shows in that it's an investigation that goes nowhere. This thing pretty much at the top of the show tells you that no culprit has been arrested...so you know this show isn't going to reveal or solve anything. The whole thing is really a nonevent. However, it spends three hours on conjecture and unfounded accusation. I'm surprised that a couple of the people identified as suspects haven't sued the production for defamation. The police seemed way too hand in glove with the TV crew. The cops were way too candid for a show that didn't have a suspect they hadn't charged. This is a show should've been shelved until someone had been put in prison. So unprofessional.

This isn't a bad movie. The performances are pretty good, especially from Miles J. Harvey who really does hold his own against some big-name actors. Where the movie falls down is the ending...because it doesn't really have one. The characters face their conflicts and the "good guys" win and then it just ends. None of the issues that the some of the characters face are not addressed. The film is centered around Miles J. Harvey's character but he doesn't have a story arc and in a lot of ways he's a spectator to the issues the other characters are facing so when everything is said and done, I don't know what the point of the story was. You really feel that when the filmmakers got to the end of the film they really didn't know how to end it or tie all the threads together.

Two of the hardest genres to pull off are horror and comedy. They both require an emotional reaction. If you aren't scared or you aren't laughing then it didn't work. This is where The Monkey falls down. It's not scary and it's not funny. It's a shame really because the second half of the movie is the interesting part when it comes to Hal's plan. The problem seems to stem from Osgood Perkins' definition of comedy. Supposedly, he was the one who decided to turn the story into a comedy horror and the problem is that his slapstick approach to the gore and horror in the film just doesn't land. He lacks the deft touch comedy needs. In someone's else's hands it might have worked but the dark comedy angle doesn't work or make sense most of the time. And so much of the film focuses on the setup and the situation, the film is over before it starts. There's quite an impressive cast here but the actors' roles are essentially cameos that don't go anywhere. I know Osgood Perkins is a quirky filmmaker with a distinct style and while I enjoyed Longlegs (even though that has issues), The Monkey is a messy misfire.

Sidenote: this film did trigger one of my movie pet peeves. I hate jerk characters who are jerks for the sake of it. Young Hal is irritating enough but the kids at the school are so tedious and jarring. It is possible to make a horror film with characters that aren't jerks.