By George & Josh Bate
Stephen King. James Wan. Osgood Perkins. Three names whose reputations in the horror genre speak for themselves and whose associations with a project will excite even the most hesitant of horror fans. But a single project from the minds of this trio has the potential to be extraordinary, fusing together the trio’s twisted creativity for something truly unique. That project from King, Wan, and Perkins is The Monkey, a new horror comedy distributed by Neon that is the year’s best film so far.
Based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King, The Monkey stars Theo James (The White Lotus, The Divergent Series) as Hal and Bill, twins whose childhood was marred by a series of horrifying deaths after they discovered a vintage toy monkey in their father’s attic. Now adults, the twins are compelled to reunite as the cursed toy has returned and the inexplicable deaths have continued.
Osgood Perkins’ previous film Longlegs made our list of the Top 10 Movies of 2024 and, very quickly, Perkins became one of the directors whose films we’re most looking forward to seeing. His career prior to Longlegs was mixed, having followed the excellently disturbing slow-burn horror movie The Blackcoat’s Daughter with the painfully boring I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and the visually stunning yet otherwise drab Gretel & Hansel. But Longlegs was such a triumph in every regard, and easily one of the best horror movies of the 21st century, that anything Perkins’ name is attached to will immediatley get our attention. Throw in iconic names of the horror genre like James Wan and Stephen King and Perkins’ latest film The Monkey suddenly has quite lofty expectations, which due to Perkins’ masterful directing and the pitch perfect blend of blood, morbidity, and humor that makes it a must-see movie on the big screen.
Many movies try and fail to offset gory and gruesome violence with humor. While there are exceptions, this blend is often mishandled, coming across as tonally mismatched, mean-spirited, or both. The Monkey proves to be another rare exception to this trend as writer/director Perkins crafts a film abundant with over-the-top kills and potentially depressing conversations about depression but also with clever and relatable humor embedded throughout. For someone whose films to date haven’t dabbled in humor, Perkins shows that he has a real knack for eliciting genuine laughs through physical gags, witty one-liners, subtle visuals, jokes about generational differences, and more. It isn’t always a laugh-a-second, and some jokes land better than others, but The Monkey has a distinct and sharp sense of humor that, coupled with the over-the-top violence, make it quite the crowd pleaser.
The Monkey begins in 1999, following young twins Hal and Bill (played by Sweet Tooth’s Christian Convery) and their single mother Lois (played by She-Hulk’s Tatiana Maslany). There are countless films that depict the warm and fuzzy closeness of twins, but The Monkey is certainly not that. The nerdy, glasses-wearing, mild-mannered Hal is often beaten up and ridiculed by his more aggressive brother Bill, who even teams up with school bullies to humiliate Hal. Maslany’s Lois plays a mom who is trying her best, although the devastation of their father (played by Severance’s Adam Scott) running away and demands of a single mother mean she is probably more aloof than she should be and doesn’t always censor her thoughts from her young children. This early section of the film constitutes the film’s first act and is far more than just an introductory flashback. This beginning develops the characters Hal and Bill so well, proving so strong that one can’t help but grieve the absence of this time period and the versions of these characters once the time jump occurs (although, rest assured, the movie that follows the time jump is equally entertaining).
As children, Hal and Bill are introduced to the titular toy monkey (who they soon learn is far more than a toy) as bodies start to drop around them. Working from Stephen King’s source material, Perkins does well in not convoluting the explanation of the monkey nor making it too abstract and nebulous. Fairly early on, the ‘rules’ by which the monkey operates are made clear and remain consistent for the duration of the film. Ensuring the explanation for the monkey is tight, while also purposefully keeping certain aspects of its origins under wraps, makes The Monkey an extremely followable film, which allows one to really appreciate the silliness of its humor and over-the-top violence.
The monkey itself, meanwhile, is surprisingly terrifying. Over the years, horror movies about inanimate cursed objects have lost a bit of their punch, which makes the extent to which the monkey actually evokes fear to be particularly noteworthy. Visually, the monkey is superbly designed, normal enough to make it passable as a vintage toy yet just off enough to make it unsettling. Perkins surrounds the monkey with exacting and ominous sound design that elevate the monkey into truly scary territory, such that goosebumps are induced whenever it is on screen. The terror evoked by the monkey pales in comparison to Perkins’ previous effort Longlegs, which may disappoint those seeking another horror film with such intensity. But overtly scaring the audience isn’t Perkins’ goal here. His goal is to entertain, to captivate. And he unreservedly achieves this goal.
Much of this entertainment comes from the film’s kills, which are wild, novel, bloody, and, at times, hilarious. Every death sequence outdoes its predecessor in terms of being more over-the-top and more gruesome than the last. Coupled with the more overt humor throughout the film, these kills result in The Monkey firmly falling into the category of crowd pleaser (although the crowd that is pleased will need to be one not prone to queasiness around blood). Best kill sequence compilation on YouTube will soon undoubtedly feature numerous kills from The Monkey, such is their creativity and gruesomeness.
Following the time jump, Hal and Bill are now played by Theo James, who is known for his roles in The Divergent Series and The White Lotus Season 2. Anchoring by two incredible, varied performances from James, the film following the time jump retains the level of engagement fostered beforehand. The Monkey isn’t quite some groundbreaking chronicle of the enduring effects of trauma, but it manages to compel, disturb, and elicit empathy in its depiction of how Hal and Bill remain affected by the troublesome monkey from their childhood despite all the years that have passed.
Where the plot goes once the time jump is made is quite surprising as The Monkey features an excellently conceived and executed plot twist. The twist helps clear up most of the lingering questions about the movie, while also affording it newfound and unexpected emotional depth. One could go as far to say that The Monkey is actually quite moving by the time it concludes, even if some of the stronger emotions surrounding its themes of brotherhood and family remain untapped.
Dragging things down only slightly is a subplot featuring Rohan Campbell, known for playing Corey in Halloween Ends. Campbell plays Ricky, a goth young adult who stumbles across the monkey. The explanation surrounding Ricky’s motivation in the film is a bit unclear and it is difficult to feel invested in Ricky when the more central plot about Hal, his son Petey (brilliantly played by young actor Colin O’Brien), and Bill remains far more interesting. Thankfully, Ricky doesn’t play a sizable enough role in the film to drag the proceedings down. It’s just that, in a movie that does mostly everything so well, the subplot of Ricky is average in comparison.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
A quintessential Stephen King story is brought to life by Longlegs director Osgood Perkins in a film produced by horror mastermind James Wan. Any project with those three names will immediately peak the interest of horror fans and foster quite lofty expectations, and yet The Monkey does so resoundingly. Masterfully blending morbid themes, gruesome violence, and sharp humor, writer/director Osgood Perkins crafts the rare bloody horror comedy that is never mean-spirited, off-putting, or tonally mismatched. Creative and gruesome kills destined to feature in YouTube compilations and in the memories of moviegoers for years are sprinkled throughout a film that can be best characterized as a crowd pleaser (albeit a crowd pleaser for crowds who don’t queasy with blood). A compelling story anchored by strong performances from Christian Convery and Theo James as the young and adult versions of twins Hal and Bill respectively features an unexpected plot twist and surprising, although not groundbreaking, emotional depth in the end. Perkins showcases his intricate attention to detail in numerous ways here, but perhaps most so with the titular vintage toy monkey, who ranks among some of the creepier cursed inanimate objects in horror movie history. When Perkins’ film Longlegs released mid last year, we predicted that it would end up on our Top 10 Movies of 2024 list, and indeed it did. We’re going to make that prediction again here and say that The Monkey will be included in our Top 10 Movies of 2025 list come the end of the year. A bloody, bonkers, hilarious crowd-pleaser that does not disappoint.