The Monkey

The Plot: Twin brothers Hal (Theo James) and Bill (also James) inherited a unique gift from their father: a drum-playing toy monkey that has a habit of turning up even though they don’t want it anymore. Whenever the monkey’s arm is raised, something terrible is about to happen. They had very nearly forgotten about it in their childhood, but now it’s back and ready to wreak havoc once more…

The Verdict: Osgood Perkins made something of a name for himself last year with the spine-tingling Longlegs. It was one of the best and most effective horrors of the year, consistently creeping out audiences as a freaky Nicolas Cage went to even darker places than usual. It Follows that he would continue in the horror vein for his next outing and that’s where we find ourselves with The Monkey. Unlike Longlegs though, this Monkey is a very different beast and doesn’t really know what to do with itself. It’s adapted from the short story that featured in the Skeleton Crew collection by Stephen King – always a rich resource for filmmakers, horror and otherwise, to dip into and scoop out a gem. King often has something of a hit-or-miss reputation on screen though. For every Carrie or The Dead Zone, there’s a Maximum Overdrive or Graveyard Shift.

Perkins’ script at least has the makings of a decent King adaptation, layering in childhood trauma (a familiar King theme) and elements of the supernatural into a story of two brothers battling a haunted toy that has a particular idea of monkeying around. It’s a variation on the old Monkey’s Paw story – be careful what you wish for, as you may get it. The twist here is that the monkey toy has a mind of its own, aiming to dispatch anyone it wants to in the most pronounced way possible. The surprisingly lenient 15A rating gets a workout here as the monkey sets up one gruesome, operatic death after another. Body parts fly around, decapitations are done in slow motion a la The Omen and just when you think a corpse has taken enough, along comes some more punishment.

That ultimately is the tone of the film – the character deaths and their Final Destination-style setup is all part of a grand plan to make audiences laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. The proceedings do indeed get increasingly ridiculous, moving towards a narrative in the finale that has a wider impact – though Perkins doesn’t dwell too long on that. Escalation is credible when done appropriately, but Perkins just shoehorns it in as an afterthought. That’s not the main problem of the film though. Once you get past the splatter horror and the blink-and-you’ll-miss cameos (hello and goodbye Elijah Wood), there’s not much of a thought process or logic at work here. There’s little under the bonnet – just laughs and gore to keep the film going until it chugs to a spluttering, confused halt.

That’s just about enough to make The Monkey passable viewing, but as a follow-up to the sustained intensity of Longlegs it’s a disappointment. It’s a one-joke film that repeats the same joke with diminishing returns. It’s telling that the brief post-credits scene is more interesting than the film itself.

Rating: 2 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor