Not even a year ago, Osgood Perkins unleashed the devilishly creepy “Longlegs” and set stratospheric expectations for whatever he might have up his sleeve next. Seamlessly blending occultist scares with a skill for finding the dark comedy in hidden corners (due in no small part to Nicolas Cage’s unhinged, rock-and-roll performance), the filmmaker’s assured direction left many wondering — okay, maybe just me — how he might tackle another horror flick that switched gears entirely. Instead of a freakish deep dive into the most unsettling depths of the human id, how about a horror-comedy that used gruesome kills and over-the-top violence to find the humor in the absurd?
That expectation-defying encore comes sooner than we might’ve thought with “The Monkey,” a breezy adaptation of the Stephen King short story of the same name. It won’t take long, however, for viewers to realize this feature feels as loosely connected to its source material as it does to “Longlegs.” Having little to no connection to King’s story, I can only take a stab at how purists will react to artistic license that goes far, far beyond replacing the eponymous monkey toy’s cymbals with drumsticks. Unfortunately, that vast gulf also extends to how “The Monkey” measures up (or, more accurately, fails to measure up) to Perkins’ previous effort. Where “Longlegs” felt truly fresh and revelatory, this much shabbier follow-up can’t escape the stench of pastiche — and not a terribly unique or clever one, at that.
What’s most frustrating about “The Monkey” is that Perkins had the right idea to lean into the inherent silliness of the story. After all, there’s only so much mileage you can get out of a cursed windup toy that brings death to anyone caught in its path while treating it with po-faced seriousness. But overcorrecting too far in the opposite extreme only opens up a set of other problems. Laughs turn out to be as hit or miss as the strained and only occasionally inventive kills themselves. The distractingly arch, haphazard tone can never decide whether to settle into one lane or the other. The script loses all of its momentum by the time it reaches a conclusion that’s somehow both too messy and too pat. Worst of all, any sense of fun slowly ends up subsumed by the pervasive feeling of cynicism and snark.
In a better world, “The Monkey” would stand as unmitigated proof that directors shouldn’t be pigeonholed into one specific box. Instead, this disappointing series of missed opportunities might have you wishing that Perkins had stuck to his proven strengths.
Osgood Perkins tries to find the laughs amid the tragedy in The Monkey
Anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows that, even in the midst of a grieving process that appears to have no end in sight, tears can give way to smiles when least expected. Osgood Perkins has endured more than his fair share of tragedies, and each one helped shape the trajectory that ultimately led to “The Monkey.” Sometimes, his unwieldy script seems to argue, the only thing we can do in the face of our most existential fears is to laugh. Yes, that means this is only the latest in a long line of horror movies about everyone’s favorite “T” word — trauma — but its offbeat approach is one crucial aspect that separates this from many of its forgettable rivals, at least.
Whatever else may be said about it, “The Monkey” is never forgettable. That much is clear right from the early portions of the film, which opens with a zany, bloody prologue (featuring an oddly perfect Adam Scott in a glorified cameo) establishing everything we need to know about the film’s main threat. This also works against it, ironically, since it sets a high bar for controlled chaos which the rest of the film is unable to match. If you’ve been following along with the absolutely flawless marketing campaign spearheaded by Neon, you know the basic gist by now. The story begins in 1990s New England and follows quarrelsome twins Hal and Bill Shelburn (both played by Christian Convery as kids), the unfortunate souls who end up stuck with that creepy monkey toy and its accompanying murderous curse. As if its habit of popping up in inexplicable places weren’t bad enough, its ability to go full “Final Destination” on anyone (except the person who actually turns the key on the monkey’s back, notably) adds a much-needed dose of unpredictability to an otherwise straightforward affair.
If you can get past the clunky dialogue, awfully unconvincing acting, and a surfeit of eyeroll-worthy tropes throughout these first 30 minutes or so, well, things at least marginally improve from there. Picking up 25 years later, we rejoin Hal as an absentee and divorced dad (now played by Theo James) who shuns everyone, including his now-estranged brother Bill (also portrayed by James) and his distant son Petey (Colin O’Brien), in a desperate attempt to keep his family safe. The past has a funny way of catching up to us, however, and it’s only a matter of time before Hal, Petey, and Hal’s entire childhood town are caught in the wake of this supernatural serial killer.
The Monkey never lives up to its potential
On paper, everything about “The Monkey” should’ve been a slam dunk. More so than many other genre mashups, horror-comedies require the steadiest of hands at the wheel and Perkins seemed like exactly the kind of talent who could ride that impossibly fine line. Instead, the experience of watching this will mostly leave you to dwell on all of the missed opportunities. I tend to abide by the notion that any given movie ought to “teach” us how to watch it, purposefully communicating the specific style and approach storytellers are using to get their ideas across. For better or worse, “The Monkey” plants its flag early on when a character states rather ham-fistedly, “Don’t think about it too much.”
That laissez-faire ethos trickles down to practically every facet of its filmmaking: from a visual aesthetic that frequently reverts to bland lighting and oddly unmotivated framing, to one-note gags overly reliant on abrupt editing cuts or music cues rather than careful setups and payoffs, to scattershot elements of worldbuilding that refuse to come together as a cohesive whole. That last part arguably ends up feeling most grating, as Perkins struggles to populate this story with many interesting or even colorful characters. Local burnout Ricky (Rohan Campbell), a hilariously overmatched priest (Nicco Del Rio) who keeps officiating a string of disastrous funerals, and especially the scene-stealing Tatiana Maslany as the twins’ offbeat mother Lois are among the very few cast members who clearly understand the assignment here. (Elijah Wood is another, popping up in an all-to-brief appearance … though not before devouring every inch of surrounding scenery first.) Yet for every joke that lands and every figure that makes a lasting impression, there are exponentially more duds emblematic of the “Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” methodology all too prevalent in “The Monkey.” Not even Theo James’ dual performances as two very different twins can paper over the rest of the film’s missteps.
“Everybody dies and that’s life,” goes one constant refrain throughout the 98-minute runtime. In the context of the movie, what feels like a painfully rote observation at first is actually meant to play as a profound realization. The inevitability and suddenness of our end isn’t a good enough excuse to give up and pack it in; in fact, that’s precisely what should motivate us to keep living. It’s just a shame that the execution of such poignant themes leaves too much to be desired. “The Monkey” is a blood-soaked barrel of laughs and grisly kills that never finds an effective way to reconcile either of those.
/Film Rating: 5 out of 10
“The Monkey” opens in theaters February 21, 2025.