THE MONKEY REVIEW

“Very Stephen King through-and-through, and possibly one of the goriest adaptations of his work at that.”

It’s been a very long time since I read Stephen King’s anthology novel, “Skeleton Crew” – in fact, I might still have my copy lying around here somewhere since the cover photo of a wind-up monkey is so ingrained into my brain. I also erroneously once thought that the story was the basis for the 1988 horror movie, Monkey Shines, which used a similar image on its poster, but that’s not the case.

That King anthology’s cover story is the basis for The Monkey, Osgood Perkins’ follow-up to his 2024 horror hit, Longlegs, which I was not a huge fan of despite it being a massive release for distributor Neon, who reteamed with Perkins and with producer James Wan for this King adaptation, the first of those in quite some time if I’m not mistaken.

We’re introduced to the concept of the wind-up organ grinder’s monkey in a prologue scene featuring Adam Scott entering a pawn shop to return a “toy” that wantonly kills those around it whenever it starts beating on its drum. After a gory kill proving this to be the case, we meet young Will and Hal, identical twins with such different personalities, Will constantly torturing his slightly younger and less assertive twin, just because he can. While going through their absent father’s personal effects, they find the wind-up monkey and immediately see the results of the monkey’s murderous intensions. (The more observant might figure out that Scott’s character in the opening sequence was the boys’ father. I’m dumb, so someone had to explain that to me.)

25 years later, we reconnect with Hal (now played by Theo James) who is divorced and trying to stay as far away from those he loves, including his estranged twin, the two of them thinking they had rid themselves of the monkey by throwing it down the well all those years back. After the horrible death of their Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy from “Schitt’s Creek”) – yup, another victim of the monkey – Hal returns to her house to go through what’s left of her estate, along with his teen son, who just doesn’t have much respect for his absent father. The original plan was to do something fun together, but finding that monkey is more important. Though Hal doesn’t find it, its M.O. for killing has already been taking a number of victims in the surrounding area, so the next step involves finding Bill.

Coming so soon after Companion and Heart Eyes makes it a little tough to truly rave about The Monkey, since those movies offer far more original ideas into the horror and sci-fi genres vs. being an adaptation of a horror writer who obviously has been a major influence on every horror filmmaker from the ‘80s until today.

Since it’s been so long since I read the original story, it’s hard to remember how much of the details come from that vs. Perkins’ adapted screenplay, but there are many elements that remain faithful to the general feel of King’s writing, including the focus on Hal and Will as kids and the way the film ends.

I’m not sure I’m that big a fan of Theo James as an actor, though I did like him in “The Gentlemen” Netflix series. Here, he ends up having a dual role playing both the adult Hal and his dark (sure, I guess you can call him “evil”) twin. James spends much of the latter half of the movie with the actor playing his son, and those scenes are okay, but it’s really when we see him playing Bill where he really delivers. Tatiana Maslany and Elijah Wood briefly appear as Hal’s wife and her new husband, both whom we see only briefly.

Make no mistake that, despite my misgivings re: Longlegs, Perkins is a solid horror filmmaker, and in trying to bring more humor and a quicker pace to The Monkey, it already makes it a far better film. Most of the film’s funniest humor takes place in the earlier “flashback” sequences with strange characters like the very young priest leading funerals, but there are similar strange and quirky supporting characters throughout, a few that are introduced in a quizzical way where it’s not quite clear what their roles might be Perkins himself gets in on the fun by playing the boys’ sideburned, swinger uncle in a couple early scenes.

The kills certainly are gory and quite fun, but they’re also quite quick and sudden and then over, as we get back into the actual story of Hal trying to put a stop to said killings, not that the story slows things down, because the pacing is handled quite admirably, always keeping the viewer guessing and on the edge of their seat, since this is first and foremost, a horror film.

Comparisons to the “Final Destination” franchise that have been bandied about ever since the trailer debuted aren’t that fair or accurate, as the kills happen so quickly that you’re not given enough time to really appreciate the mastery of Perkins’ special make-up effects team. I guess that’s true with some of the “Final Destination” kills, too, and in many ways, how some of the people are offed could still shock and surprise. As hinted above, everything leads to an absolutely insane ending that will leave viewers wanting to watch it again.

Often played for laughs despite the gory nature of its premise, there’s no denying that The Monkey is very Stephen King through-and-through, and possibly one of the goriest adaptations of his work at that.

Rating: 7/10

The Monkey opens nationwide on Friday, February 21.