Link, a majom

Throughout the whole time watching Link, I kept thinking that it just isn't possible, that a chimpanzee doesn't look like that. And it wasn't a chimpanzee, it was an orangutan. But that doesn't detract from his performance, which is simply breathtaking. The film stands on its shoulders, and thanks to it, it's simply wonderful to watch, although the ending is unnecessarily symbolic and quick. Good terror. (2017.07.20)

A bizarre piece from the “Australian Hitchcock” Richard Franklin, where you don't know whether to be scared or laugh. The gradual transformation of a cute and playful chimpanzee into a murderous psychopath is strange indeed. His pyromaniacal appetites start innocently enough (smoking cigars and heating phones in the microwave) and culminate in setting the whole house on fire. The primate's initially innocent-looking glances then start to look quite chilling in the context of the upcoming action, for example when he's stalking a showering Elisabeth Shue, but at other times you can't shake the impression that he's still the same cute and playful chimpanzee, hilariously running around the house (sorry, it's actually an orangutan dyed black). Also Jerry Goldsmith's oddly chosen music, like something from a circus attraction, makes it rather grotesque in places. In any case, the finale is visually executed to perfection. But it's not up to Franklin's Roadgames. (2018.05.14)