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 siblings to confront the cursed toy.
Director: Osgood Perkins
Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy
Release Date: February 21, 2025
Genre: Horror
Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references.
Runtime: 1h 38m
Review:
The Monkey is a devilishly dark, horror comedy that delivers a gory collection of kills that never gels into an entirely cohesive film. Osgood Perkins' adaptation of Stephen King's short story takes the most basic parts of that story to create an anarchic tale of death and destruction that only expands in scope as the story goes on. Perkins takes a gleeful approach to each kill with each one taking full advantage of gooey blood and gore to a cartoonish degree. There's nihilistic undercurrent that pervades throughout the film's runtime that might be off putting to some as Perkins offers no clear answers to what's happening or why. It’s a demented joyride that leans into the silliness of the haunted toy conceit paired with the kind of adolescent trauma that peppered early era King. It’s a different approach for Perkins, especially after last year's Longlegs was far more self-serious than this blissfully, bleak jaunt. Theo James is tasked with carrying the lion's share of the load here in dual roles. James delivers a fun, tongue-in-cheek performance that puts his level of commitment to the material on display, especially once his twin character takes center stage. He's clearly open to anything that Perkins throws at him as he and his characters roll with the increasingly outrageous splatter fest thrown onscreen. He shares the majority of his screentime with Colin O'Brien who plays Petey, his estranged son, with both sharing some solid chemistry together. Tatiana Maslany is given painfully little screentime in flashback as the twin’s single mother. Maslany manages to leave an impression in her limited screentime which leaves you wishing Perkins had made better use of her and the character as opposed to all the extended voiceovers from James. It might have given the story and central character a better-defined emotional core which would have made some of the reveals more impactful. There's plenty to enjoy, especially if you enjoy gratuitously gory deaths, The Monkey feels a bit too emotionally untethered to leave the kind of impact intended.
B-
