It's difficult to fathom why this outrageously shoddy exploitation quickie ever made the "video nasties" list in the first place; the film is packed with ludicrously fake gore scenes of rubber body parts being ripped and torn apart, so unrealistic as to be downright amusing. It's a wonder that our so-called government ever decided that this film could harm casual viewers and drive them to committing copycat crimes...
Saying that, it's a lot of fun to just marvel at the sheer ineptitude on display here. The bare plot is served up as an excuse to have lots of graphic murders be committed, where the victims are mainly women who are always unlucky enough to get their tops ripped off while being attacked. Over and over again we go through the routines: scientists operate, monster escapes and kills people, monster is recaptured, scientists operate, monster escapes, ad infinitum. It's not a particularly awful premise, but the trouble is it never deviates from the expected route, which is strictly the norm.
The gore is blatantly phoney, with bright red paint splashing about, although the makers certainly don't shy away from the violence, preferring to show heads being torn off in full glory. The biggest laugh comes where somebody has their eye poked out and a load of stuffing comes out along with it! Along comes an old woman who sees the body and runs down the street screaming "Argh! A dead man! A dead man!". It's hilarious.
The acting is nondescript, the actors poorly dubbed. There are no sympathetic characters and the short running time is padded out with shots of masked women wrestling in a ring, those crazy Mexicans, huh? Although the monster is just a man in a mask, I will say that the mask is pretty effective and looks good, even if it's obvious that it is indeed a mask. In the supposed operations we get treated to footage of real-life open heart surgery, just the same as you can see when you turn on any hospital documentaries on BBC1 such as Children's Hospital. The most amusing thing is that the film cuts to these scenes with obviously three or four surgeons working on somebody, then cuts back to the actors playing the scientists... and there are only two of them! Definitely a discrepancy with the number of hands there. NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES is definitely one of those so-bad-it's-good kind of films, and the best thing I can say about is that it's good for a laugh. Otherwise, if you're looking for a moving and serious piece of entertainment, forget it.
Saying that, it's a lot of fun to just marvel at the sheer ineptitude on display here. The bare plot is served up as an excuse to have lots of graphic murders be committed, where the victims are mainly women who are always unlucky enough to get their tops ripped off while being attacked. Over and over again we go through the routines: scientists operate, monster escapes and kills people, monster is recaptured, scientists operate, monster escapes, ad infinitum. It's not a particularly awful premise, but the trouble is it never deviates from the expected route, which is strictly the norm.
The gore is blatantly phoney, with bright red paint splashing about, although the makers certainly don't shy away from the violence, preferring to show heads being torn off in full glory. The biggest laugh comes where somebody has their eye poked out and a load of stuffing comes out along with it! Along comes an old woman who sees the body and runs down the street screaming "Argh! A dead man! A dead man!". It's hilarious.
The acting is nondescript, the actors poorly dubbed. There are no sympathetic characters and the short running time is padded out with shots of masked women wrestling in a ring, those crazy Mexicans, huh? Although the monster is just a man in a mask, I will say that the mask is pretty effective and looks good, even if it's obvious that it is indeed a mask. In the supposed operations we get treated to footage of real-life open heart surgery, just the same as you can see when you turn on any hospital documentaries on BBC1 such as Children's Hospital. The most amusing thing is that the film cuts to these scenes with obviously three or four surgeons working on somebody, then cuts back to the actors playing the scientists... and there are only two of them! Definitely a discrepancy with the number of hands there. NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES is definitely one of those so-bad-it's-good kind of films, and the best thing I can say about is that it's good for a laugh. Otherwise, if you're looking for a moving and serious piece of entertainment, forget it.