It’s a seemingly normal day at Hill Valley Hospital when an old handyman is rushed to the ICU with a high fever and increasingly strange symptoms. When he expels what seems to be an egg-sac from his throat, the doctors on staff cordon off a quarantine and contact the Center for Disease Prevention.
Detective Bishop (Steve Railsback) observes the bizarre scene while demanding care for his injured partner and offers whatever assistance he can as the situation becomes increasingly strange. Dr. Rachel Carson (Gwynyth Walsh) heads her medical team expertly as she tries to save the lives of the old handyman and the injured detective, but more quarantine patients and a government blockade make her job harder and harder.
The only clues they have is that the handyman touched a rare Micronesian plant and an insect came out of his throat. A gaggle of sick children stumble upon the insect after it hatches and, deciding that it looks hungry, feed it what turns out to be a growth hormone. The insect then goes on a rampage, killing hospital staff and attempting to breed: Detective Bishop and Dr. Carson hatch a plan to destroy the giant insect and save the hospital.
This flick fits firmly into the so-bad-it’s-good category. Nothing about the set is too interesting or extremely convincing, the cinematography is run of the mill, and there are plot holes abound. What Blue Monkey excels at is pacing and stakes. It’s nearly halfway through the film that the full-sized killer insect makes its first appearance, yet it feels natural—as if everything that has happened so far has built up to the creature breaking loose.
The stakes are real even before the army shows up to ‘contain the contagion’, as nearly every minor character is a patient or worker in the hospital and includes a woman giving birth, sickly children, and a blind woman who snuck into quarantine to cheer up her friend. Another wonderful surprise is the strength of the women in this film. Blue Monkey has issues for sure, but one of them isn’t bland misogyny: the only named doctors are women and their advice and orders are followed, even when the hospital administrator voices distaste in establishing quarantine. These strengths paired with a 50s style giant insect and over-the-top fake gore make this film highly enjoyable. This absolute gem of a B-movie is highly recommended for science fiction library programs.