Evil Monkeys |
UK • 2018 • 46m • Directed by: Nadia White, Ben Wilson. • Starring: Togo Igawa, Jessica Ransom, James Lock, Bobby Cole Norris, Yazmin Oukhellou, Sivuyile Dunjwa, Richard Wright-Firth. • Music by: Helen Greenham, John Greenham.
  Three people compete for 1 million yen in "mute, deaf and blind" challenges set before them by the mischievous super-intelligent apes who control the tropical island where this game-show is set.
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Review:
This incredibly silly and quite self-aware show is a perfect example of "what even is this" type of television weirdness that anyone who enjoys offbeat high concept TV offerings really does ought to see.
In a semi-scripted Planet of the Apes spoof scenario, three not-too-smart "celeb" reality show contestants (a hot guy, a hot girl and a cowardly comic relief guy) known for their UK reality-TV series "TOWIE" are sent to an island ruled by super-intelligent apes (played by people in surprisingly convincing costumes) who haze them and present them with several "mute, deaf or blind" challenges which are all part on an actual overarching comedic storyline. If they beat the challenges in satisfactory time, they will earn enough time to beat the final puzzleobstacle course challenge and win 1 million Japanese yen. You see, the mad scientist who created the super-intelligent apes is from Japan, so they use yen. Also, a million yen sound like A LOT more money than what its actual value converted to GB pounds really is.
Now, is this show any good? You've got to be kidding. However, if you think you've seen it all... no, you have not. This is a whole new level of 'what even' television and it is rather fascinating, and yes, even amusing (although mostly in a guilty pleasure kind of sense). Since that's exactly what the producers were going for, you could say they did their job right. Also, the choice of contestants was a real stroke of genius because they react to all the madness that's happening to them in the exact way you, as a producer who wants to make an attention-grabbing reality-TV comedy, would hope for (i.e. the whole bit about the singer Seal was the perfect storm only this contestants in this type of crazy setting could create).
There is only a single (pilot) episode so far, and I really can't imagine that there can ever be more, because it looks pricey as #### (the extensive 80s and 90s classic rock and pop soundtrack alone would easily bankrupt a mid-budget film).
In a semi-scripted Planet of the Apes spoof scenario, three not-too-smart "celeb" reality show contestants (a hot guy, a hot girl and a cowardly comic relief guy) known for their UK reality-TV series "TOWIE" are sent to an island ruled by super-intelligent apes (played by people in surprisingly convincing costumes) who haze them and present them with several "mute, deaf or blind" challenges which are all part on an actual overarching comedic storyline. If they beat the challenges in satisfactory time, they will earn enough time to beat the final puzzleobstacle course challenge and win 1 million Japanese yen. You see, the mad scientist who created the super-intelligent apes is from Japan, so they use yen. Also, a million yen sound like A LOT more money than what its actual value converted to GB pounds really is.
Now, is this show any good? You've got to be kidding. However, if you think you've seen it all... no, you have not. This is a whole new level of 'what even' television and it is rather fascinating, and yes, even amusing (although mostly in a guilty pleasure kind of sense). Since that's exactly what the producers were going for, you could say they did their job right. Also, the choice of contestants was a real stroke of genius because they react to all the madness that's happening to them in the exact way you, as a producer who wants to make an attention-grabbing reality-TV comedy, would hope for (i.e. the whole bit about the singer Seal was the perfect storm only this contestants in this type of crazy setting could create).
There is only a single (pilot) episode so far, and I really can't imagine that there can ever be more, because it looks pricey as #### (the extensive 80s and 90s classic rock and pop soundtrack alone would easily bankrupt a mid-budget film).
Review by Alfabeta from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database