★★★☆☆
The Monkey, the latest film directed by Osgood Perkins, is a horror comedy movie in which two brothers attempt to stop a supernatural toy monkey from wreaking havoc on the world around them. Despite being an enjoyable watch with an impressive cast and good creative direction, the movie’s horror elements never shined.
The movie opens with Petey Shelburn Sr. (Adam Scott) walking into an antique shop covered in blood. He attempts to rid himself of the titular monkey, now likely aware of its malevolent nature.
Unfortunately for him, the rules of the monkey are swiftly established, as with a tap of its drums, he causes a chain of events to occur that leads to the impalement of the store’s owner via a harpoon gun. He later disappears in an unexplained fashion, leaving behind his two identical twin sons, Hal and Bill Shelburne (both played by Christian Convery), and his wife Lois Shelburne (Tatiana Maslany).
The two discover the monkey again in their home, and, not understanding it, twist the key, leading to the decapitation of their babysitter Annie (Danica Dreyer). Afterward, with Bill constantly bullying his brother, Hal seeks a way to stop it. Knowing the secret of the monkey, he winds it up with the hope that Bill will end up dead.
Instead, his mother suffers an aneurysm and dies in front of Bill. In a rage of guilt, Hal destroys the monkey with a cleaver, and the two move up to Maine to live with their aunt and uncle. The reign of destruction follows them, as the monkey reappears despite being ostensibly destroyed.
The remainder of the movie occurs 25 years later, centering around a grown Hal (Theo James) trying to protect his son Petey Shelburne Jr. (Colin O’Brien) from Hal’s estranged brother Bill before the malevolent monkey killings begin again.
The narrative capitalizes on preexisting creative tropes. In typical Stephen King fashion, the story’s premise is rock solid, with a creepy-looking toy responsible for an incredible amount of death and horror throughout the flick.
Similarly, there is a lot of creativity in the variation of death in the movie. Kicking off with the harpoon was a great choice, and many of the following deaths are executed similarly. Fans of splatter entertainment will have a lot to enjoy watching.
Despite that, the film lacks true horror. The monkey’s drum is supposed to be a tool that inherently draws out tension for the audience, yet the deaths happen so quickly that they feel like the punchline to a joke, instead of the loss of human life.
The film just doesn’t have the foreboding tone of his previous film, Longlegs, which overflowed with feelings of dread and fear. The Monkey feels overly dramatic, even to the extent of being humorously so—it works well initially but loses value in its repetition. Unfortunately, Perkins cannot quite pull off a true genre blend.
Regarding its themes, the film deals with generational trauma well, and how guilt is passed between family members. Theo James manages a solid performance despite playing two opposite characters, and his desire to guard his son Petey is evident.
Even though some opportunities to explore the horror aspect of the genre more thoroughly are missed, the film is still a sadistically fun watch. The aforementioned gory horror is the clear highlight, but the film does not have much to communicate beyond that—the direction should’ve taken a slightly more serious route instead of wasting the second half of the film monkeying around.
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