3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Fresh off the grassroots success of 2024’s “Longlegs,” writer-director Osgood Perkins knocked out another creative horror movie with “The Monkey,” adapted from Stephen King’s short story. The film is a deft blend of horror and comedy, with commendable performances and strong filmmaking. However, the bold and haphazard storytelling choices impede the film’s strengths.
The film follows Hal Shelburn (Theo James), who has been plagued by misfortune his entire life. His twin brother, Bill (also James), bullied him relentlessly in his youth, and the two had their lives upended by an antique mechanical monkey that Hal believes has the supernatural power to kill. Although he thought he had destroyed it forever, the doll has seemingly returned, and it is up to Hal and his estranged son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), to stop it.
After the boys’ first lethal encounter with the monkey, they are consoled by their unsuspecting mother about the inevitability of death. She reassures them that they have no control over how or when it will happen and that they should not let it worry them. This becomes the film’s thesis, and it is reassessed at the film’s conclusion. Although it works as a thematic throughline, it does not feel particularly exclusive to the film’s plot because “people die” is a feature of most horror films.
King’s literary voice is adapted through Hal’s narration, which is used effectively for most of the film but is nonexistent by the third act. This is indicative of the film’s fatal flaw: choppy pacing. Despite this film being marketed as a vehicle for James, his adult character arc is not the sole focus of the film; much of the story takes place when the twins are young boys. Although significant plot points occur in this storyline, it is overstuffed with irrelevant details about their relationship and their single mother’s (Tatiana Maslany) personal life. Maslany is only in the flashback scenes, and the boys’ relationship is efficiently communicated early in the film, rendering additional explanation unnecessary.
The film is a tight 98 minutes, so it does not overstay its welcome. However, the amount of time spent with Hal and Bill as children is gratuitous considering how different their personalities are as adults. Hal’s growth from a young boy to an adult is cohesive, but Bill feels less believable as his brother’s bully as an adult. As a child, Bill is more mature and popular than Hal, but Hal seems to outgrow him as they age. Yet, Bill still maintains power over him and berates him, an inconsistency that could have been interesting if addressed.
The audience does not even see much of Bill as an adult, almost certainly due to the technical difficulties of filming James as two characters at once. This uneven allotment of time combined with an anticlimactic finale leaves the audience with the feeling that the film is over before it really begins.
Certain story developments are equally puzzling, beyond traditional horror movie plot mechanics. The boys’ father (Adam Scott) is seen in the opening scene trying to get rid of the eponymous toy, and we learn later that he abandoned the family, leaving Bill and Hal to find the monkey. His disappearance is never explained further, rendering this scene a questionable feature of the story.
Scott’s minutes-long cameo in the film establishes a curious trend of talented, recognizable actors appearing as minor characters. Elijah Wood, advertised in the film’s trailer, plays Hal’s ex-wife’s intense new husband, but the character is in one scene and is only partially significant to the subplot of Hal reconnecting with his son. Even Maslany, a terrific actress, is not given much to do as a mother trying to move past her husband’s departure.
The performances are an undeniable strength of the film. Scott handily sets the comedic, almost absurdist tone for the film in the opening scene, and Maslany and Wood are memorable. Sarah Levy and Perkins appear in humorous turns as the boys’ aunt and uncle, and Rohan Campbell, as a mysterious teenager, carries one of the most raucously fun scenes in the movie. O’Brien is believable as Petey, who is both frustrated by his father’s distance and intrigued by his situation. James and Christian Convery, who plays the younger version of the twins, both deliver great performances, each playing two distinct characters with just the right amount of humor. Both actors commit to the absurd situations their characters face without sacrificing the horror at the film’s core.
The film is additionally aided by its direction. With this entry into his filmography, Perkins has anointed himself as a strong player in horror filmmaking. Some of the sudden, elaborate deaths coordinated by the monkey are staged unforgettably. Effective editing and creative cinematography elevate the movie from a standard horror comedy to a stylish gore-fest.
“The Monkey” is far from King’s best work, and the same could be said for many of the film’s contributors. The themes are blunt and the film is derivative of other horror classics, but “The Monkey” is an undeniably fun horror comedy that marks a step forward for Perkins as a director.
