NIH Monkey Brain-Damage Tests Targeted in New PETA Video From ‘American Psycho’ Director Mary Harron
For Immediate Release:
May 21, 2025
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
In a new, hair-raising PETA video, horror director Mary Harron exposes other violent predators—experimenters who mutilate and kill monkeys in cruel laboratory tests—in time for the 25th anniversary of her cult classic American Psycho.
The terrifying TV spot debuts today in Washington, D.C., targeting National Institutes of Health (NIH) experimenter Elisabeth Murray’s brain-damage tests on monkeys, and will run on Adult Swim, MTV, and TV Land through May 27.
The video shows a human strapped to a chair in a barred prison cell. A circular metal device has been screwed into the victim’s head, immobilizing it. A man in a lab coat and surgical mask enters. Pupils dilate. A needle plunges. Screams ring out as a power drill bores into the skull, and there’s a sudden cut to an image of a real monkey in a real laboratory enduring the same kind of invasive torment.
“I’m working with PETA to call for an end to the use of monkeys and other animals in laboratories, and I hope this video shines a light on the immense pain that experimenters inflict on tens of millions of animals every year,” Harron says.
PETA first released disturbing video from Murray’s laboratory in 2020, showing brain-damaged monkeys frightened by fake snakes and spiders, and has been working to close it since. PETA sued NIH and obtained public documents and footage revealing monkeys confined for years—in some cases more than a decade—in barren metal cages. The animals frequently tear out their hair, pace, or rock to cope with extreme stress, loneliness, and boredom. Many have metal head posts or other equipment implanted in their skulls, and some have suffered from repeated infections, vomiting, or excessive bleeding after surgeries.
In nature, monkeys form deep emotional bonds with their family members. In Murray’s laboratory, the animals are routinely caged alone, causing profound psychological and physiological distress.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
