By Seb Jenkins - February 20, 2025
Osgood Perkins swaps screams for laughs in his new horror comedy centred around a killer drumming monkey and based on Stephen King’s short story.
Osgood Perkins is having a bit of a horror moment, following his spine-chilling Longlegs success with a worthy follow-up in The Monkey. The early previews for his second 2025 release – Keeper – also look nightmarish. Developed from Stephen King’s 1980 short story of the same name, The Monkey deviates from the macabre we associate with Perkins and offers something more – well, perky. Taking advantage of cartoonish gore, outlandish deaths, and a rag-tag cast of household names, this is sure to have audiences clapping – (even if the titular monkey is not allowed to due to Disney copyright law).
The Monkey has a simple premise and delicious execution (quite literally). After stumbling upon a vintage toy monkey in the eclectic closet of their absent father, twins Hal and Bill unleash a unique brand of hell onto the unsuspecting world. Cue chimpanzee shit hitting the fan. The boys soon discover that every turn of the key lodged in the monkey’s back leads to the death of someone close to them. No one knows who. No one knows when. No one knows how. But once the monkey’s drumstick rises, someone will be chosen. Fearing the dark forces at play, Hal and Bill do their best to dispose of the grinning primate, but evil so rarely walks away willingly. Fast forward 25 years and an adult Hal (Theo James) must face off against the toy that has plagued his life once more – unless the drum beat claims him first.
First and foremost, The Monkey is bloody bananas! The horror-comedy genre is often divisive as such contrasting themes prove tricky to juggle across one 90-minute flick. However, Osgood Perkins manages to walk that tightrope with all the poise of a performing monkey in his latest release. Relinquished from the real of realism, he replaces the thick smog of tension experienced by any Longlegs watchers out there with a breezy sense of gruesome fun. This film is a horror at its core – blood, guts, and head explosions serve as sticky proof of that – but The Monkey is arguably more about the laughs along the way. Who is going to be offed next and what stupendously silly way will they meet their end? Horrors are often built around tight-chested moments and blood-curdling screams, but The Monkey is all about popcorn-munching morbidity. In fact, Hal and Bill may not be the only on-screen twins at play here as we see a perfect yin and yang relationship between horror and comedy.
The chaotic blood-soaked cast only adds to the enjoyment factor brought to the big screen by Perkins and Co. At the height of Severance mayhem, Adam Scott pops up for a scene-stealing prologue that sets the tone gorgeously for the gore to follow. Tatiana Maslany – the lead of Perkins’ next film Keeper – also commands every inch of the screen as Hal and Bill’s brutally honest mother. Auntie Ida and Uncle Chip are played by Sarah Levy – Twyla from Schitt’s Creek – and Mr Osgood Perkins himself. There’s been a Mordor – even Elijah Wood pops up to say hello for a few minutes.
The conveyor belt of recognisable faces – and talented actors at that – only adds to the side-splitting spectacle. A special mention goes out to Theo James who continues his rise
following standout performances in The Gentlemen and The White Lotus. He may not be hauling around a humungous prosthetic appendage this time around, but a killer toy monkey is one hell of a burden to carry on your back. Playing the adult versions of Hal and Bill, James serves as the much-needed glue between the horror and comedy contrasts, reluctantly ploughing through gallons of blood with nothing more than a Monday morning sigh.
The Monkey could undoubtedly have done more to develop the plot and focus on the rich backstory that must surround the toy itself – but, in all honesty, I’m glad it didn’t. If you walk into the cinema with the context that you’re about to see a fun example of switch-your-mind-off, buckle-up, and enjoy-the-ride comedy-horror, then you will have an absolute blast. Haunting of Hill House this is not, more like Annabelle on Ice… and that should be celebrated in its own beautiful way.
Coming to cinemas February 21
(P.S. – The advanced screening handed out fortune cookies to reveal how you are going to die and now I have to avoid taking selfies with the deer in Richmond Park for the rest of my life)
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