I feel like it’s safe to say that Osgood Perkins is the current Master of Horror. Even though I was less enthused about 2024’s Longlegs than seemingly everybody else, I appreciated that I was seeing a visionary horror director at work. I’m happy to say that Perkins’ latest offering, The Monkey, didn’t disappoint me in the least. Instead, it gave me one of the best times I’ve had at the movies in a while.
Based on the Stephen King short story, and produced by James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw), The Monkey is a new trip from Longlegs writer/director, Osgood Perkins. 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.
Did you watch the trailer above? Did you see how freakin’ gory it is? “That” is what The Monkey is all about. Crazy fun gore, usually at the expense of anybody around Hal Shelborn, wonderfully played by Theo James, who also plays Hal’s twin brother Bill. Historically, I’m a horror fan who does not love a lot of gore when it’s used in the spirit of meanness or torture. However, when gore is used to shock and make you laugh, as it is here, hell, I’m all for it. Writer/director Perkins has said he sees The Monkey as a comedy, and I agree. There was so much laughter in the theatre I was sitting in throughout the film’s 90 minutes; we knew what we were seeing was meant to be ridiculous, to have the audience say “Oh my god!” in our seats. It all worked.
Like the best Stephen King stories, though, this adaptation of The Monkey isn’t just about clever kills. It’s a story about fathers and sons, mothers and sons, and the legacy they leave their children. Theo James’ Hal has a teen son named Petey (Colin O’Brien), who he sees only once a year. Not because he doesn’t love his kid but because he doesn’t want him to inherit the family legacy. As much as the movie deals with Hal’s quest to get one monkey off his back, it’s also about his accepting his role as a father.
At the conclusion of The Monkey, I said to my movie-going buddy and BBP alum Scotty G that I couldn’t remember the last time I had that sort of fun at the movies. He said, “I do. It was at Ready or Not,” another film we’d seen together. That made sense, as Ready or Not also possesses that mix of fun and gore. It’s safe to say that if you enjoyed that one, The Monkey will be right up your alley.