Summary
Osgood Perkins expands Stephen King’s macabre short story into an unhinged, darkly humorous ride, blending horror with absurdity for a bloody good time.
Some of the best Stephen King adaptations have come from his short stories and novellas, from Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption to The Mist. Perhaps it’s because King’s work provides the bones and lets filmmakers create their own cemetery.
Like Rob Savage’s recent take on The Boogeyman, writer/director Osgood Perkins takes the framework of King’s titular short story—first published in 1980 and later collected in Skeleton Crew—and gleefully runs amok in an expanded version of that world. Perkins wastes little time showing us his intentions, as a blood-splattered Capt. Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) attempts to rid himself of an organ-grinder’s monkey toy with predictably bloody results.
Yet the bulk of the story focuses on his children, twins Hal and Bill (Christian Convery). After finding the monkey among their father’s belongings, a series of bizarre deaths start occurring around the squabbling brothers. Following the loss of their mother (Tatiana Maslany) and the apparent eradication of the monkey, the pair grow further estranged.
Cut to 25 years later, and weird stuff starts happening again. The adult Hal (Theo James) struggles to connect with his own son (Colin O’Brien), who resents Hal’s lengthy absences. Yet as bodies begin to drop—someone evidently controlling the monkey again—it quickly turns into a messed-up bonding road trip.
King’s original short story has often been praised and interpreted as an exploration of intergenerational trauma, inherited guilt, and parenthood in the face of an absent father. Perkins’ version retains all of this but delivers it with such a gleeful sense of the macabre that you can sit back and enjoy the chaos for what it is.
What might surprise you, especially after Perkins’ unnerving Longlegs, is just how funny THE MONKEY can be. Each death—from a decapitation at a teppanyaki restaurant to one involving fish hooks and a mailbox—somehow manages to sneak up on you, even with a giant neon signpost lighting the way.
Much of this is thanks to the sublime editing from Greg Ng and Graham Fortin, whose scalpel-like precision inserts gags and jump scares with deft timing. Set against Perkins’ ’90s-by-way-of-the-’70s aesthetic, it feels like walking through a surreal funhouse drenched in human goop.
The rest is down to a completely deadpan James, whose narration maintains the story’s literary origins while dryly observing the horrors around him. Playing dual roles in the film’s back half, it’s only a slight tonal shift towards the silly that keeps this from fully sticking the landing.
Still, in every other way, THE MONKEY is an unhinged delight. It won’t just join the ranks of other possessed doll films but will earn its cult status for its mix of Sam Raimi-esque dark humour and self-aware references aimed squarely at the core horror faithful.
2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Osgood Perkins | WRITERS: Osgood Perkins (based on the short story by Stephen King) | CAST: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy | DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow Films (Australia), Neon (USA) | RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 February 2025 (Australia), 21 February 2025 (USA)
