Director Osgood Perkins is slowly starting to become a well known horror director. In 2015, he directed the horror indie “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” and last year, he brought us the surprise hit “Longlegs” (which I will be checking out very soon).
Now, Perkins brings us a horror tale which is based on a Stephen King short story that will likely be a little divisive with some hard-core Stephen King fans.
In the latest horror film from Neon “The Monkey,” 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 once again.
Osgood Perkins’ “The Monkey” delivers some brutal moments, which some of them can give a “Final Destination” vine (which I’ll get into in a little bit). This adaptation of the Stephen King short story does have a few humorous bits here and there, which can get really silly at times.
If you do enjoy the horror genre, this film may be up your alley. There are a few scenes, especially in the first half of the film, that deliver a few gripping, well-crafted scares. Throughout this adaptation, there are quite a few moments that do feature a good amount of gore. If you have seen the movie series, you can likely see how the gory moments would remind you of the “Final Destination” movies.
Just like some of the brutal moments in the “Final Destination” movies, all of the bloody scenes that are featured in this horror-comedy can be over-the-top and pretty bloody, A good amount of those moments appear in a montage during a scene where he is at his aunt’s home who the monkey already taken care of.
“The Monkey” can, at times, have a haunting dark atmosphere. In the scenes where we are introduced to the lead character as a child (along with his twin brother), the haunting atmosphere mixed with some humor is actually entertaining. The movie also brings a fresh yet sort of familiar take on the haunted object trope, using its eerie premise to explore deeper themes of trauma, fate and family.
The second half of the movie is where things start to drag. The humorous bits of this horror-comedy begin to repeat themselves and the great blend of horror and comedy that the movie started off with starts to fade.
So, overall, ‘The Monkey” isn’t exactly a great adaptation of the Stephen King story. Yet, it still can be unique and entertaining at times before it starts to go a little flat after the halfway point. Also, let me know on my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook which Stephen King film adaptation do you like the most.
Cast: Theo James (Hal/Bill); Christian Convery (Young Hall/Young Bill); Tatiana Maslany (Lois); Colin O’Brien (Petey); Sarah Levy (Aunt Ida); Osgood Perkins (Uncle Chip); Tess Degenstein (Barbara); Danica Dreyer (Babysitter Annie); Rohan Campbell (Thrasher/Ricky); Elijah Wood (Ted).
Writer/director: Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter; Longlegs)
Trivia: Following Stephen King tradition, the majority of the movie is set in a town in Maine. Director Frank Darabont, who has also directed a few good Stephen King films, originally held the rights to the short story and planned to begin working on an adaptation upon completing “The Mist.” His version of the project never materialized.
In writing this movie, Perkins chose to give it comedic elements because he thought it was more fitting for a movie about a toy, and he wanted to distinguish “The Monkey” from more serious movies about possessed toys. Perkins further stated that the comedy in the movie intentionally avoids subtlety and makes use of extreme gore to joke about the absurdity and randomness of death.
MPAA rating: R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references (running time 98 minutes)
According to the director, the decision to have the monkey bang a drum instead of cymbals was due to the rights to the cymbal-banging version being owned by The Walt Disney Company, as the toy had appeared as a character in Toy Story 3. Which is ironic, because the cymbal monkey was in Toy Story 3 in the first place because its director Lee Unkrich is a fan of Stephen King.
Based on a short story from Stephen King's 'Skeleton Crew'
There is a character referred to in the movie as "Torrance", alluding to the Torrance family in 'The Shining'.
Osgood Perkins chose to give the film comedic elements because he thought it was more fitting for a film about a toy, and he wanted to distinguish The Monkey from more serious horror films about possessed toys. Perkins further stated that the comedy in the film intentionally avoids subtlety and makes use of extreme gore to joke about the absurdity, pointlessness, and randomness of death.
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