MovieChat Forums > Tales of the Unexpected (1979) Discussion > Stuffed monkey?

Stuffed monkey?

posted 18 years ago by mcennimo
11 replies | jump to latest

I posted this on "I Need to Know" and it was suggested that the episode might have been from this show. Can anyone help me?

I remember catching the tail end of an anthology episode shown late at night sometime around 1990-95. It had a strange but not quite supernatural vibe somewhat like "The Hitchhiker" and ended with a narrator directly addressing the camera. This episode involved a wealthy older couple, where the wife loved this stuffed monkey toy (she was possibly a bit senile.) I don't know what happened really but maybe a younger guy stole it or was trying to blackmail them and the old guy killed him??? Something about the monkey being bad luck maybe too. Anyway the monkey is lost or destroyed but the last scene shows the old man opening up a closet with dozens of identical monkey toys and taking one out to give to his wife. That was the end, and in the epilogue the narrator is on a high balcony holding the monkey and saying something along the lines of, "Well as you can see, it's just a harmless toy..." and the camera quickly cuts to a shot of him falling off the balcony!!! It was one of the screwiest things I've ever seen on tv, and has been in the back of my mind for a long time.

P.S. Please reply no matter how long it's been since I originally posted this, I check every couple of days.

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Looking for a movie where a guy keeps looking up meaningless stuff online. Maybe called "My Life?"

[–] trippingbomb 18 years ago

Sorry I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's Tales of the Unexpected. I've only a few episodes left to watch so it might be one of them, but I doubt it. Because TOTU never had a narrator addressing the camera during the episode (only introducing the story in a few of them) and the plot doesn't really click with me as being something that would be on the show.

I'm sure someone older might be able to help though. :D

[–] mcennimo 18 years ago

Thanks anyway, I read through an episode list and figured this show wasn;t it either. I was more hoping that someone with similar tastes to TOTU might have seen it somewhere.

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Looking for a movie where a guy keeps looking up meaningless stuff online. Maybe called "My Life?"

[–] chelseaal 18 years ago

I have asked my friend Steve this one as he knows anything obscure with TV, movies and Music, but this had him coming up with a 'Tales of the Crypt' episode. He has all Thriller and Tales of the Unexpected.......and its in none of them, he also suggested recent episodes of the American show, 'The Twilight Zone' as this has the kind of genre you questioned.
Hope this helps.......it drives me mad not knowing a question like that!!

[–] mcennimo 18 years ago

Thanks, but neither the 80s TZ nor tales from the crypt would have had a human narrator at the end. I posted this on another messageboard so if I ever get the answer I'll be sure to send it to you.

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Looking for a movie where a guy keeps looking up meaningless stuff online. Maybe called "My Life?"

[–] happyspock 18 years ago

There was a Zone style show called Tales From The Darkside that George Romero produced and the story you describe sounds a lot like a Steve King story from The Skeleton Crew, seeing that Romero and King callobarate it may be part of that series? Just a wild guess...

[–] mcennimo 18 years ago

I think the only Stephen King Darksides were "Sorry, right number" and "Gramma" (that one might have been a Monsters ep. though). I do think King's story "The Monkey" was made into short film but that story was about a supernatural wind-up cymbals-banging monkey and this one definitely had a non- explicitely supernatural plush monkey and elderly people who were being extorted. (<-- lol at my logic)

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Looking for a movie where a guy keeps looking up meaningless stuff online. Maybe called "My Life?"

[–] Vlad_the_Impala 18 years ago

Sorry,I can`t answer the stuffed monkey one.But the evil cymbal bashing monkey was in this one

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174917/plotsummary

not what you were looking for,I know,but just in case it bugged anyone not to know.

Regards,

-v-

Lasciate ogni speranza,voi ch`entrate

[–] Aaraigathor 13 years ago

A monkey with cymbals is on opening titles of TV series "Friday The 13th". What about the episode 3.11 "Year Of The Monkey" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0583364/)?

Kostas

[–] sgodrich 13 years ago

It's a bit of a guess but could it be an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode? It seems to fit the format perfectly.

[–] Merlin007 (1) 2 years ago

Did you ever figure this out? I remember the episode somewhat and thought it was Tales Of the Unexpected, but it isn't. I would love to know where the episode was from..

[–] mcennimo1 (1) 2 years ago

No I never did, although I remember it from time to time. I'm going to try reddit.