Joe (Colin Cuthbert), a war hero, visits a local harbour in search of an old pal. Upon finding Frank (Dennis Hewitt), we discover the pair haven't seen each other in 15 years. It transpires they fought together during the Falklands conflict.
Since then, Frank has earned his crust as the leader of a tough team of mercenaries. Joe has turned up with an offer: £80,000.00 for Frank and his team to help him locate and kill a rogue ape called Klaus. We learn that the beast had been trained by a scientist and his daughter to be a "killing machine" but escaped several years earlier, running amuck and killing several students at an abandoned college. Joe, for whatever reason, also happened to be there, but escaped with minor injuries. He's been hunting the ape, named Klaus (Lee Nicholson), ever since.
Frank accepts the gig; Joe's sole stipulation is that his team must include a ninja (Chris Middis). Said ninja's first task is to break the scientist's daughter, Kate (Sarah Poulter), from a nearby asylum. Joe believes she's the only one who can lead them to where Klaus is likely to be hiding out.
Meanwhile, we get an early indication of what ol' monkeyface is capable of, as he attacks a bickering couple one evening while they try to get their car started...
Elsewhere in the vicinity, Ben (Graham Saxon) is leading an expedition of biologists into local woods. His camping entourage includes secret admirer Michelle (Amy Telford), plus youngsters Scott (Liam Olsen) and his girlfriend Janice (Michelle Bailey). The latter swiftly goes missing, which puts the others in mind to split up and frantically search for her safe return.
Inevitably, Scott and Michelle run into Klaus before Joe and his men do. In the meantime, Ben encounters Kate - who has been let off into the woods so that Joe's team can then track her, hoping that'll lead them to the beast that trusts her. She reveals to Ben, via flashback, how her scientist father Donald () took a sweet-natured creature and transformed into something murderous, throwing his own daughter into the loony bin when she tried to expose his deeds.
As things heat up in the woods, Ben and Kate coming face-to-face with not only Klaus but also Joe's team of trained killers, a twist in the tail changes the viewer's loyalties in a most unexpected way...
Sunderland-based S N Sibley's 69-minute film was shot over the course of 8 years (well, it's perhaps more accurate to say the flashback footage was originally filmed 8 years ago and the film was only recently picked up for completion). It was shot in and around Newcastle, and benefits for the most part from attractive, atmospheric exterior locations.
A huge caveat has to be that the film is a no-budget affair. It's shot on standard-definition, pillar-boxed DV and the titular creature literally is a man in a furry monkey suit with an expressionless mask and huge rubber monster gloves over his hands.
Adding to the lo-fi experience, the opening scene proffers some really blatant out-of-synch post-production dubbing. Later scenes obviously employ sound that was recorded live ... alas; the camera microphone doesn't always pick up what characters are saying too well. Your remote control's volume button will be up and down more often than a whore's drawers.
Do you want to know what else is cheap about this film? Well, everything. Performances are universally of the "I'll ask me mates if they want to be in me home video" calibre; Mark Danbury's special effects work, while splashy in places, is rudimentary in the extreme. The 80s style music, by Piotr Hummel for the most part, is akin to something you'd muster in your bedroom, while Andrew Maratty's opening theme tune sounds like something you'd find on an old TV programme like "The Gentle Touch". Broad Northern accents are going to be difficult for some to understand.
Oh, and Cuthbert looks a little like what Matt Lucas would if he had a head of greased-back white hair.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did!
The editing is surprisingly good, all of the characters are enjoyable and the pace - save a lull between the 10 and 20 minute mark - is agreeably brisk. All of the above no-budget factors work in the film's favour, affording it a retro appeal not dissimilar to that found in the early works of Alex Chandon or Shane Mather.
It's not quite the gore fest that either of those cut their teeth on, but is equally enjoyable: who can't enjoy a monster-on-the-loose flick that avoids all the slick, overly polished trappings of your typical Multiplex snore marathon?
KLAUSE THE DEVIL'S PRIMATE feels like it should've existed in the 1990s and been released onto VHS by Screen Edge. That, to me, isn't a bad thing - I have good memories of being a collector of new, DIY gore in that era ... and it's quite welcoming to revisit it in this overly cynical age.
So, if you want to see a monkey man engaging in mortal combat with nunchakas, machine guns etc, this film is for you. It's well-lit, well-shot and surprisingly takes itself a lot more seriously than the synopsis may suggest.
The promo disc provided for review came complete with a case and cover. It presented the film in a sharp, colourful 1.33:1 rendition and had 2.0 English audio which was, as I mentioned earlier, at the mercy of the limited resources by which the sound was recorded. It didn't hamper my enjoyment. Much.
Review by Stuart Willis
| Directed by S N Sibley |