Have you ever wondered how clowns, red balloons, teddy bears, and now a monkey toy could be so frightening? Osgood Perkins knew what he had to do and that is why he did in his latest horror film The Monkey, adapted from Stephen King’s short horror story of the same name.
The Monkey movie review outlines the way the movie cleverly makes use of two genres simultaneously. Out of the copious amounts of movies released across the world, only a handful of them have been able to pull it off well.
The Monkey (2025)
The Monkey movie plot explained
The Monkey is a satirical comedy based on the titular toy that is here for one purpose: to kill. The story unravels when a pilot named Petey (played by Adam Scott) brings the vile monkey toy home. He soon abandons his twin boys, Bill and Hal, with their mother Lois (played by Tatiana Maslany). The twins are too young to remember their father clearly.
One day, the twins go through his belongings and find the monkey in the closet full of junk. Their mother has been hiding it from the boys (young Bill and Hal are played by Christian Convery) to save them from the toy’s wrath.
Twenty-five years later, Theo James is seen playing the role of the elder twins, Bill and Hal. Hal has his own son with the same name as his father, Petey. Sadly, he could see his son once a year.
Most part of the movie shows us Theo James as Hal who is lonely as people around him treat him as a loser. Surprisingly, he is the one with the brains. He only wants to live a simple life quietly but life has something else in store for him.
Since the beginning of the movie, we only hear the voice of Bill, the spoiled twin, you may say. However, Bill wants to kill Hal. Why? Because he thinks Hal was the one who winded the monkey last when their mother was killed.
The Monkey doesn’t take orders. It goes with the wind-up toy kills for whoever he pleases, resulting in random gruesome deaths. Burning in the fire of revenge, Bill once again starts looking for the monkey decades later, and in an attempt to kill his brainy twin, he tries to entice his son, Petey, to turn the key.
Bill had a plan that someday, the monkey would be generous enough to kill Hal, in the process of which the entire town had to suffer. There is an endless road to ghastly murders, unleashing large-scale chaos becoming impossible to fetter.
How do grief, revenge, and the comical turnings of the monkey’s preferences to kill turn out, for that, you would have to watch the entire movie yourself. Theo James dual role reflecting twin brothers trauma, familial generational curse and inventive death scenes with practical gore effects make it morbidly funny.
Watch the trailer here:
Want to read something similar? Have a look at The Gorge movie review.
Did the comedy-horror blend work?
There is a mixed response to this question. Some of the reviews online give a clear thumbs up to the tricky blend, such as “fun, crazy, dark, funny”- one of the audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Another person from the same audience puts it this way, “I get this it’s comedy and it tries to be quirky and unique…it lacks cohesion”.
Going over the lines of nihilism lite, death is shown making fun of life itself. Insanity in everyday life is a major theme of the movie, which inevitably brings dark humor. The Monkey pokes fun at the genre and celebrates death with its drum-hitting, setting this as an alarm for upcoming death nearby.
Rather than going deeper into the origins of the cursed toy monkey and showing more depth of the relationship of the twins, which could possibly be hinting at a sequel of the movie, though not confirmed yet, the story shows some silly moments fused with carnage, which might or might not bring a smile or fake laughter on the audience’s faces. The film rests on the idea of Final Destination-style kills, though.
How about shaky laughter coming out of the viewers after having watched splattering gore in front of their eyes? Is that comedic enough? [awkward laughter]
Oz Perkins believes there’s only one way to deal with tragedy
And this is what he tried to show in the movie. Having gone through grief himself, Perkins had to deal with the trauma of relations, which is evident in his filmmaking techniques.
In his interview with Empire, whose full version is available in printed form only, he confessed that he merged some lightheartedness with the darkness of death. This was the initial idea of the movie’s approach. As per Collider, Perkins revealed,
“I spent a lot of my life recovering from tragedy, feeling quite bad…Everyone dies…and I thought maybe the best way to approach that insane notion is with a smile”.
How Long Legs and The Monkey create their worlds with tone and atmosphere?
Oz Perkins horror films tend to create exceptional terror, which does not singularly rely on jump scares or gore. The movies create tense vibes and character-driven narratives. His unconventional storytelling and gothic retro aesthetic are a killer combo that his fans are always looking for.
As indicated, Perkins likes to explore family dynamics. In Long Legs, which was a superb horror masterpiece, unwrapped the intricacies of the mother-daughter relationship.
In the same way, The Monkey scrutinizes the relationships between twin brothers as well as the curlicues of fatherhood, especially after he abandoned his kids. His departure had left a hole in their lives, putting all the burden on the mother’s shoulders, trying to do her best in the deadliest circumstances.
Moreover, Perkins seems obsessed with cursed dolls. Last year’s blockbuster hit, Long Legs was about eerie dolls which the killer used to influence families to commit suicide. The same spooks can be felt in The Monkey, not seemingly as cute as a monkey could be.
Hang on! There is a clear difference between the two, regarding the atmosphere. The Monkey is a slasher, relying heavily on bloodshed and butchery. Long Legs contrasted ponderously as it was dark, foreboding, and unnerving.
The tone of both movies is divergent. Where Long Legs creates an itch of knowing what will come next, The Monkey presents a predictable outcome, which is a gruesome death and a dark comic tone.
Stephen King’s The Monkey movie review
Stephen King seems to be happy about the movie. He loved the way it had come out since it was his original work and gave Perkins a green light to transform it with a touch of dark humor.
Listen to what he has to say about The Monkey here:
Is The Monkey worth watching?
Here’s the answer. Yes, it is. For a one-time entertainment, it is surely worth watching. Stephen King, Oz Perkins, and James Wan- all are the demigods of horror. The Monkey is the result of this ultimate lethal combo that you surely want to enjoy once in a lifetime.
Our rating: 6.5/10
Where to watch The Monkey?
The Monkey has just been released on a digital platform by Neon. It is available on Amazon Prime now. Enjoy!
(This article was updated with the above piece of information soon after the digital release date for the film was available.)
Genre: Dark comedy, horror
IMDb rating: 6.7
Rotten Tomatoes: 76 percent on Tomatometer (critics score) while 68 percent on Popcornmeter
Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Elijah Wood, Rohan Campbell, Adam Scott, and Sarah Levy
Director: Osgood Perkins
Producers: James Wan, Dave Caplan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Chris Ferguson. Executive producers: Peter Safran, John Rickard, Natalia Safran, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Jesse Savath, Fred Berger, Liz Destro, Chris Cole, Omani Carson, Andy Price, Sara W. Price, Tom Quinn, Jason Wald, Christian Parkes, Emily Thomas, Ryan Friscia, Teddy Schwarzman, John Friedberg, Michael Heimler, Peter Luo, Nancy Xu, Owen Qing, David Gendron, Ali Jazayeri.
Writer: Osgood Perkins and Stephen King
Initial release date: February 21, 2025
Movie runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
What do you think of The Monkey? Waiting to hear from you!
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Madiha Ali is an experienced entertainment writer with over five years of expertise in covering movies, TV shows, celebrity news, and pop culture. Her bylines appear on trusted platforms like High on Films, Ary News, The Express Tribune, Tea and Banter, Show Snob, CelebFeedz, Snapfeedz, Daily Planet Media, The Irish Insider, and Movie Insiderz.
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