Overview
Link is a 1986 British horror film starring Elisabeth Shue and Terence Stamp along with a trio of simian stars which consist of Locke as Link, Jed as Imp, and Carrie as Voodoo. The title character, "Link", is a super-intelligent yet malicious chimpanzee (played by an orangutan) who lashes out against his masters when they try to have him euthanised.
It was directed by Richard Franklin and written by Everett De Roche from a story by Lee David Zlotoff and Tom Ackermann. The score was provided by Jerry Goldsmith. It was filmed in St. Abbs, Scotland. Shue and Goldsmith received Saturn Award nominations for their contributions.
Franklin was a devotee of Alfred Hitchcock - he had recently directed Psycho II - and said after filming “I hesitate to liken it to The Birds because everyone will say ‘Oh shit, he's doing Hitchcock again.' Unlike The Birds, which is kind of a fantasy, Link is based on anthropological realities. I’m calling it an anthropological thriller as opposed to a psychological thriller.”
Plot
Dr. Steven Phillip lives in a Victorian mansion by the English Coast with three chimpanzees which he has been doing research on to investigate the “link” between man and ape. Jane Chase is invited to his house during summer vacation as an assistant, and upon
arriving, she gets greeted at the door by a chimpanzee named Link, dressed in a butler's uniform.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).