THE MONKEY
I am a massive fan of director Osgood Perkins and am proud to say that I have been a fan of his since the beginning. Back in 2015, I totally fell in love his directorial debut, “February” (which was re-titled “The Blackcoat's Daughter” in the US) and have been a fan of his ever since. Starting with this first film, Perkins established his personal style which is all about mood and atmosphere, rather than blood and gore, although he is not afraid to show these aspects when it is right for his story. His movies are carefully constructed and slowly paced, stunningly shot in a way that enhances the dread of his stories, and he rarely, if ever, will fall back on something so basic as a jump scare. He creates fear in his movies through tension, atmosphere, character, and the story itself, not through unearned “boo” moments which is so rife in horror cinema today. Personally, I think he is a true auteur, and his style is easy to identify.
“The Monkey” is also none of those things, as it shows a completely different side to Osgood Perkins. “The Monkey”, the first of two films Perkins released in 2025, excels in showing off the director's sillier side, as he has a ball with this over-the-top horror comedy. The film is actually based on a Stephen King short story, and is about twin brothers, Bill and Hal, who come into possession of a cursed toy monkey that they believe to be responsible for a series of very bloody and gruesome deaths. After their mother becomes one of the monkey's victims, the twins dispose of the toy by throwing it down a very deep well, thinking it destroyed and out of their lives forever. However, with the boys now grown, not to mention estranged, the toy monkey re-enters their lives and it's killing spree continues, forcing the brother's to reconnect in an attempt to stop the demonic plaything once and for all.
As you can tell from the above synopsis, “The Monkey” has quite a wild and goofy premise, and Perkins goes all out in telling this story as a very bloody and graphic splatter comedy. This is a very gory film, but it is all told with a wink and a nudge to the camera. It is not to be taken seriously, rather this is just a hell of a good time. More like the kind of scares you would find in a funhouse, just with lots (and lots and lots) more blood. Perkins has a ball coming up with all of the death scenes, and there is a huge number of them. You see, the toy monkey doesn't have the ability to kill anyone by itself, but through the demonic forces that are within it, it can control elements so deaths happen in the most unexpected of ways. In fact the film starts to play out a little like a “Final Destination” film, as we look forward to seeing just how each character is going to meet their demise. And unlike in all of his other films, Perkins is not subtle in showing these deaths. He understands that for this movie, the blood and the gore is the star of the show here, and he goes all out. Most people seem to love the girl jumping into the electrified pool, causing her to explode into body parts, but I really enjoy the real estate agent being shotgunned to death, point blank range, all over Hal. I also love a very simple death at the end, when a group of cheerleaders in a bus all get beheaded by a passing truck.
Theo James does an excellent job at portraying both twins, and making them completely different characters, Hal the quieter, more respectful brother, while Bill is a total dick. Despite the horror, there is also a nice father-son story line integrated into the film as well, to give it a little more depth, as Hal starts to reconnect with his own son, Petey, who he has neglected through his life due to the fear that he will mess it up for the worst. This reminds me, Elijah Wood has a very funny cameo in the film as Petey's stepfather, and Osgood Perkins himself also has a brief but hilarious cameo as Hal's uncle who, let's just say, isn't really fit for the job. I also must make mention of Tatiana Maslany who is very memorable as the twin's mother, despite her limited screen time.
Horror comedies are very hard to make, as trying to get the balance right between both aspects so they both work is almost nigh on impossible. “The Monkey” is much more of a black comedy, as it isn't interested in doing gags or jokes, as the characters themselves treat the story very seriously, it's just that the situations they find themselves in are rather funny for the audience watching, as are the character's reactions to said situations. Whilst this may constitute a spoiler, one aspect of “The Monkey” that I loved was it's apocalyptic-like ending, which strangely reminded me of similar endings in some of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films like “Charisma” and “Pulse”, although the tones of those films are completely different.
