‘The Monkey’ Movie Review: Osgood Perkins’ Horror Comedy Incessantly Beats The Same Drum
Photo from Neon
From Jeff Nelson
Osgood Perkins is fresh off the success train of last year’s Longlegs, which twisted an unhinged Nicolas Cage performance into a supernatural detective thriller. The filmmaker is back with a new (yet familiar) film about what may go bump in the night – this time, it’s a toy monkey that shouldn’t be excused as such. The Monkey is a Stephen King adaptation firmly grasping its comedy reins through the gory trenches.
Twin brothers Bill and Hal (Christian Convery/Theo James) unearth their absent father’s toy monkey in the attic, turning its key to see what it does. They soon realize its connection to a series of gruesome deaths and seek to dispose of it. However, it isn’t so simple to outrun death.
The Monkey isn’t only familiar because of its origins but also for its central themes of death and generational trauma. Perkins never addresses the mythology behind this drumstick-wielding toy, allowing it to represent a father’s pain passed to his sons. A young Bill torments Hal, and his school life isn’t much better, leaving their blunt mother (Tatiana Maslany) and a creepy toy monkey as his only solace. Hal is the first to recognize the recent deaths as more than freak accidents, attempting to use the monkey for a purpose, although it doesn’t act as intended.
Traces of King’s short story course through Perkins’ feature-length adaptation, but he fills the runtime with additions that are uniquely his. It’s an uneven mishmash where the reliance on comedy is effective when it lands, lending well to the plot’s ridiculousness. The Monkey is set in an exaggerated version of our world beyond just the supernatural monkey toy, and it never apologizes for it. The violence acts as physical comedy and the resulting gore is played with a wink, reminiscent of a more comical Final Destination.
Unfortunately, the second half’s dramatic aspirations are tragic. James delivers a deadpan performance that fits Perkins’ tone like a glove, but the material is clunky and lacks substance. Adult Hal is estranged from his loved ones to protect them from the monkey’s wrath, should it ever return. This self-imposed rule includes his son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), who desperately wants to connect with the father he knows nothing about. Despite being essential to the story, it feels like a footnote. Additionally, a side story involving a desperate local man falls especially flat.
The Monkey showcases Perkins’ voice at its goofiest, even as it wades into the well-trodden horror territory of trauma and the inevitability of death. The movie discovers moments of fleeting joy amidst the darkness, although its balance between light and dark is uneven. Hal’s journey is dampened by fragmented storytelling, making it difficult to invest in his arc beyond awaiting the thrill of the next death. Ultimately, Perkins leans heavily into a mixed bag of humor and horror, where the film struggles to break free from its one-note slump.
Rating: 2.5/5
The Monkey hits theaters on February 21st, 2025.
