The Monkey Review

The Monkey is based on a short story written by Stephen King in 1980. Director Osgood Perkins himself adapted the story into a screenplay, staying true to its core theme while making minimal changes to fit the film's timeline - 1999 to 2023.

The premise is unsettling: whenever the wind-up toy monkey beats its drum, someone dies - often in a gruesome and unexpected way. King and Perkins share a bleak outlook when it comes to their victims: no one is a special snowflake. There's no logic to who lives and who dies. Life is a chance occurrence - an accident, if you will - and so is death: brutal and random. That's The Monkey, a grimly faithful adaptation of King's chilling tale.

The story is something like this. In 1999, Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) tries to destroy a sinister drum-playing wind-up toy monkey but mysteriously disappears, leaving his wife Lois to raise their twin sons, Hal and Bill (Theo James as adults, and Christian Convery as the kids). The boys later discover the monkey and unwittingly trigger a series of gruesome deaths. After the sudden death of their mother Lois Shelburn (Tatiana Maslany), Hal attempts to dispose of the monkey before they move to Maine with their aunt (Sarah Levy) and uncle (Osgood Perkins). However, the cursed toy reappears, causing more tragedies.

25 years later, Hal is estranged from Bill and the latter's son Petey (Colin O'Brien). When their aunt dies in a freak accident, Bill becomes convinced the monkey has returned. As more bizarre deaths happen, Hal is forced back into his brother's orbit. Hal, obsessed with revenge, believes winding the monkey's key grants immunity to its curse. He threatens to use Petey as leverage, forcing Bill into a deadly standoff with Hal. As the chaos spirals, the twins confront their past and the horrifying power of the monkey.

In true Stephen King style, the world of The Monkey feels real if you set aside the supernatural - in this case the drum-playing toy and the deaths. The characters are ordinary, a mix of innocence and cruelty. There's also no concept of good versus evil, no explanation for why things happen the way they do - they just do. And the universe doesn't care about its subjects or their fate. Also the movie doesn't end with a solution. And even the cursed toy rarely feels like a forced plot device. That's where Osgood's genius lies.

The screenplay might be classy, but there's plenty for the masses, too. This is the first film based on a King story that invents numerous accidental deaths, exploring every conceivable way a person can die. It channels shades of Grindhouse and Final Destination, but unlike those films, the horror here isn't campy. The movie doesn't strictly adhere to the slasher or splatter genre, nor does it fit neatly into any specific gore category. Yet, it delivers a sumptuous amount of gore - enough to make it unsuitable for the faint-hearted. There's also a touch of comedy sprinkled throughout, unlike anything typically seen in gore-heavy films, that adds to the entertainment value.

James and Convery own the movie for the maximum part as its central characters. Both the child and the adult actors have done a fantastic job of playing opposite characters - while Bill is an introvert and calm, Hall is a bully. All other actors have touch-and-go roles.

Technically, the movie is rich and perfect. It's a work of Osgood, who was focusing on acting in horror movies starting from Psycho II, and who has been making only horror movies after he started directing, inventing unimaginable ways to leave you scared, and so there are no surprises there.

Stephen King fans would have probably watched this movie by the time I'm writing. You should, too.