The Monkey (2025) Neon/Horror RT: 98 minutes Rated R (strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout, some sexual references) Director: Osgood Perkins Screenplay: Osgood Perkins Music: Edo Van Breemen Cinematography: Nico Aguilar Release date: February 21, 2025 (US) Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Osgood Perkins, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood, Danica Dreyer, Laura Mennell, Nicco Del Rio.
Rating: *** ½
Talk about night and day. That’s the difference between last year’s dark serial killer thriller Longlegs and The Monkey, a darkly funny adaptation of the short story by Stephen King. Both are written and directed by Osgood Perkins and both are brilliant in their own way. However, one takes itself completely seriously (even with Nicolas Cage’s super-loopy performance) while the other flips off conventionality by making a sick joke out of death and misfortune. One might even describe it as a slapstick version of Final Destination.
As with other adaptations of King’s short stories (i.e. Children of the Corn, The Lawnmower Man), The Monkey doesn’t resemble its source all that closely. They both have evil drum-playing toy monkeys at their centers as well as a main character named Hal, but that’s basically it. Perkins, son of Psycho actor Anthony Perkins, takes the story in a different direction by introducing a revenge plot involving identical twin brothers who would have been better off separated at birth. They take dysfunctional to a whole other level.
Perkins hits the ground running with an unforgettable opening scene. The father (Scott, Severance) of twins Bill and Hal tries to get rid of the toy monkey, a cursed object that causes horrific deaths when its key is turned, at an antiques shop. While he talks to the owner, the monkey starts playing his drum. When the drumming stops, the owner gets impaled and disemboweled by a strategically positioned retractable arrow. It happens by itself. This is the kind of thing that tends to happen when somebody plays with the monkey.
As children, Bill and Hal (Convery, Cocaine Bear) hate each other. Bill is a mean little a**hole that not only bullies his meeker brother, he encourages their classmates to do the same. They find the creepy-looking monkey while looking through their absent father’s belonging in a closet. Aware of its true nature, Hal wishes his brother dead before turning the key. It kills their mother Lois (Maslany, Orphan Black) instead, causing her to suffer a sudden brain aneurysm right in front of Bill. Now orphaned, the boys go to live with their aunt (Levy, Schitt’s Creek) and uncle (Perkins). The monkey, thought to be destroyed, reappears and kills the uncle. This time, the boys lock it in a box and drop it down a well. They hope that’s the end of it. Of course, it’s not.
25 years later, an adult Hal (James, Divergent) is an antisocial loner who only sees his estranged son Petey (O’Brien, Dear Edward) once a year at his own request. He doesn’t want to pass along the family’s misfortune to the boy. It looks like this could be his final visitation now that his ex’s new husband (Wood, the LOTR trilogy) intends to adopt Petey effectively eliminating the need for his presence in the teen’s life.
It’s during their time together that Bill (also played by James) calls and informs him of their aunt’s grisly demise. The brothers haven’t spoken in years for obvious reasons. Bill orders Hal to go to the aunt’s house to settle her estate and grab the monkey which has apparently resurfaced. He witnesses the “accidental” death of a real estate agent mere moments after arriving at his old home, but not before she tells him all about the mysterious gruesome deaths that occurred around town after his aunt died. Yep, the monkey is definitely back.
At this point, you might think Hal and Bill will set their differences aside and team up to do away with the evil toy once and for all. NOPE! Perkins takes an alternate story route. I’ll only say that it involves the oldest motive in the book, revenge. It’s as twisted as the whole of The Monkey, a fun and super-bloody horror thrill ride. Perkins never holds back. He doesn’t skimp on the red sticky stuff either. He stages some of the coolest death scenes this side of the Final Destination movies. People die by shotgun blast, lawnmower, hornet swarm, scalding steam, bowling ball and cobra. The “accidental” death at a Japanese teppanyaki is a true masterpiece as is the scene where a woman explodes after diving into an electrically charged swimming pool. The movie’s tagline, “Everybody dies. And that’s f***ed up.” is 100% accurate!
Speaking of the tagline, it’s further evidence of Perkins’ rebellious spirit. I can’t think of another filmmaker who has the balls to put the f-word on the poster. He really is bold. We need somebody like him in a time when movies have become so generic and redundant. Both Longlegs and The Monkey (and, to an extent, Gretel & Hansel) defy convention. They don’t fit neatly in box. That, my friends, is what cinema is supposed to be.
It’s a tricky balancing act when an actor takes on dual roles in the same film. Now I’m not talking about Eddie Murphy and the countless comedies he’s made wearing fat suits and prosthetics- e.g. The Nutty Professor 1 & 2, Norbit. I’m talking about actors playing two different, well-defined characters like Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers. Theo James does something quite similar in The Monkey. Hal and Bill might be identical twins, but they’re not exactly the same. Whereas Hal is a tortured soul who internalizes his pain, Bill is a psycho. Witnessing his mother’s death really screwed him up. Look at where Hal finds him, a booby-trapped building that just screams serial killer hideout. James pulls off both roles with equal conviction. Convery is just as good as the younger versions of Hal and Bill.
Maslany has some good scenes as the slightly off mother trying to raise two sons who would likely kill each other if left unchecked. Scott and Wood are pretty good in their limited screen time; they each have one scene. Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) adds an extra dose of weird as the goofy, long-haired teen who gets involved in all the monkey business (come on, you know I had to say it at some point).
The Monkey is one of the better King adaptations. It has an awesome grindhouse aesthetic courtesy of cinematographer Nico Aguilar. It features a nifty score by Edo Van Breemen. It’s eerie, disturbing and wickedly funny. It’s great! Be sure to stick around until after the end credits for a teaser trailer for Perkins’ next movie, a killer thriller entitled Keeper (it opens in October).
TRIVIA TIDBIT: Take note of the babysitter’s name. It’s Annie Wilkes. Where have you heard that before? Think other Stephen King stories adapted to film.
