Directed By: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Osgood Perkins
Genre - Horror/Comedy/Supernatural
Running Time - 98 Minutes
Plot:
When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
Review:
Building upon the success he had with last year’s horror hit LONGLEGS, Osgood Perkins joins James Wan and Stephen King with adapting King’s short story, THE MONKEY. While LONGLEGS was meant to unsettle its audience with a supernatural true crime vibe [as well as an out-there performance by Nicolas Cage], THE MONKEY takes the opposite approach by making a dark joke out of its premise for laughs. The film’s dark humor approach towards the film’s death scenes and overall look on the idea of grief and moving on from trauma will most likely divide moviegoers expecting something more serious in its commentary.
Personally, I had a lot of fun with THE MONKEY. While not as clever or sophisticated, the film reminded me of the FINAL DESTINATION series with its bizarre set ups to the demises of the movie’s characters. The use of a cursed toy monkey causing all this unpredictable chaos is a neat idea, although I would have liked to know more about its origins and why it was so intent on hurting people while growing attached to others. Maybe that’s in the short story, I don’t know.
The humor comes from the characters, who are extremely quirky and pretty much say whatever is on their minds without holding much back. Death is almost treated as a matter-of-fact joke that’s so messed up, you have to laugh about it. No one really takes any of the characters dying all that seriously. Hell, even a church pastor gives a sermon that feels more like a stand up routine than an actual eulogy. Even a montage of people dying within a week to unbelievable deaths is treated as something that normally occurs in this universe. While I’m sure many will not connect with any of this, I felt it made THE MONKEY an entertaining viewing experience. Considering how dark the world has been in 2025 so far, it was refreshing to smile and chuckle over the ridiculous ways people died and how others approached them. For a thin plot - it’s really just a toy monkey terrorizing twins over 25 years - it carries some important themes pretty well.
Osgood Perkins’ direction continues to impress. Great pacing and editing, the quirky tone maintains throughout, and the death sequences hit. THE MONKEY is a lot gorier than I was expecting it to be, considering Stephen King adaptations aren’t known for being gory horror movies. The use of both practical and CGI effects are used very well. And I liked that the film looked kind of grungy, yet popping with vivid colors [mainly red] for a lot of the film’s short runtime. His direction for LONGLEGS is probably stronger overall, but Perkins shows that he can be visually playful in terms of sound design and striking edits. It feels like a long episode of Tales From the Crypt and I enjoy that vibe.
The cast is also very good. Theo James has a great voice for narration, while also giving two different performances as twin brothers [one nerdy and the other more of a bully]. I thought he played both the introvert and insecure brother, as well as the more evil and deranged brother very well. Christian Convery plays his younger versions believably well also. I also felt that James shared nice big brother/father chemistry with the more grounded Colin O’Brien.
Always nice to see some familiar faces as well. This includes a wonderful performance from Tatiana Maslany as James’ quirky mother, as well from an almost unrecognizable Rohan Campbell as a young man who takes drastic measures to get his hands on the toy monkey. Also enjoyed the cameos by Adam Scott, Elijah Wood and Oz Perkins himself. Everyone seemed to be playing against type and having fun with it.
It’s bananas how my two favorite films so far in 2025 involve apes [I see you, Robbie Williams and BETTER MAN]. Looking forward to what Perkins brings us with KEEPER later this year.
SCORE
(8 out of 10)
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