"The English setting to me was essential," said Franklin. "I wanted to contrast the primitivism of jungle animals with Old World values, high culture, and "civilisation" - which is one of the subjects of the picture." Franklin was asked to use make up for the apes but he elected to use real apes, and editing techniques to make it seem how they were reacting. "From a technical viewpoint, it was really not as hard to do as I had anticipated," said Franklin. "But there was a lot of pressure on me, even at the last minute, to use men in suits, which I thought would be dishonest. We weren’t making a fantasy, and we weren’t making Greystoke with its fable-like qualities. We were doing something which was supposed to be based on what chimps can really do. " Filming finished in July 1985. It was one of the last films made under the regime of Verity Lambert at EMI. "The killings are strange with one chimp actually pulling somebody through a mail slot, which is kind of different,” said Franklin. “It breaks new ground, and cinema- tically, it has never been done." Release Prior to the film's release Frankin said "Universal’s instinct will probably be to release it this summer, which I really hope they don't do. It’s not a Spielberg movie. It’s quite different and, in a way, I wish Psycho II had been given the chance to make more money by playing fewer theatres for a longer period of time. Link is a very special thriller and should be treated accordingly.” When the film was released in the US by the Cannon Group, eight minutes were cut, despite Franklin's objections. When EMI was taken over by the Cannon Group, five more minutes were cut out. Franklin later described this process as "each new one chipping a little more away until my wife was moved to liken the plight of my monkey movie to that of the horse in Black Beauty." Reception The film received generally mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 44% positive reviews based on 18 reviews. Franklin later called the movie "on almost every level... an unsatisfying experience." Alternate versions The French cut is 3 minutes shorter (the opening sequence is missing), but features scenes that were cut from the international version. In 2021, a composite 125 minutes extended cut was released in France; this