Inside writer-director Osgood Perkins’ adaptation of the 1980 Stephen King short story, The Monkey, is a tale of generational trauma. While the conflict of two rival twin brothers certainly drives the plot, family drama-tinged horror is not this film’s order of the day. It is best for viewers to not try and dissect the family “dynamics” of its main characters. The trauma found here isn’t the gag, but the source of them. Taking a wildly different approach than that of his previous films, Perkins goes all in with an exuberantly vicious tone and a bevy of gloriously over the top death scenes that will have gore fans cheering. 

For sheer genre thrills, The Monkey sits somewhat comfortably between the worlds of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II and the Final Destination series. The comparisons are unavoidable, as Perkins sets his darkly comedic tone from the opening scene and fills the rest of the picture with one shocking kill after another while its lead character is witness to (and covered in) varied expulsions of blood and guts.

While there is an arc that sees the destruction of a family, director Perkins leaves behind the methodical style of his 2024 hit, Longlegs, for something more visceral. The gore scenes are fun, but the film’s appetite for destruction becomes an unwilling mirror to a society that has gone mad. As the film goes on, the terrors expand beyond the main characters until it seems the whole world is cursed. The toy monkey of the title becomes representative of America’s current leaders, who seem to want to watch the world burn. In such a wickedly fun cinematic exercise, there is a surprisingly effective gut punch of reality.

The film hangs its dramatic hat on two twin brothers who despise one another’s existence due to a lifetime of distrust, family tragedy, and the torment of an evil curse. In 1999, young brothers Hal and Bill (wonderfully played by Christian Convery, quite the impressive young actor) are rummaging through their father’s belongings. Dad split a while back and no one knows why, although the film lets the audience in on his reasons with a clever opening sequence. Amongst the things poppa left behind is a toy monkey. Harmless enough, so the boys give the key a turn. Surely there will be some kind of silly music or fun monkey sounds. This innocent childhood toy is anything but. Once the key is turned people begin to die in horrific accidents. The brothers bury the monkey in a deep well in the hope of saving lives from this demonic entity they don’t fully understand.

It is in the time spent with the younger Hal and Bill where The Monkey finds its most steady tonal balance. The boys already inhabit an off-kilter and ugly world. Their mom (Tatiana Maslany) is a depressed drinker whose words of wisdom for her two sons are blunt prophecies of doom. Hal faces merciless torment at the hands of his cruel brother Bill, who leads other classmates in the bullying of his twin. As for Bill, he is going down the dark path of sadistic personality that will alienate him from everyone he knows.

The already cursed family finds themselves in real peril once the titular monkey taps his drum and the director has fun with the “accidents” that befall its victims. Seeing the boys’ reactions to such off-the-wall death and destruction gives the film a good jolt of humor amongst the macabre events.

Twenty-five years later, we find the adult Hal (Theo James) aloof in the world, estranged from his teen son Petey (Colin O’Brien), and no longer in contact with his brother Bill. Of course, Hal is thrown back into the horrors of his childhood, as he becomes witness to many violent deaths, immediately realizing the monkey thought long buried has begun a new reign of terror. 

King’s short story was quite effective; its horrors more contained. Perkins’ screenplay expands the carnage beyond King’s original outcome. Spoilers prevent any specifics to be discussed, but where the master of horror made his ending more of a warning of impending doom, Perkins goes big and crafts what could be the end of the world. This angle works as much as it doesn’t. The film is an undeniable good time for genre fans, but when it reaches the final act, it becomes clear why Stephen King didn’t write this tale as a full novel. With all the goings on (the film moves at a fast pace), there isn’t enough happening beyond the gory thrills. The family trauma would have been something interesting to explore, but the director plays too loose with the humor until all we have are outrageous death scenes designed to elicit gasps. Perkins sets his comedic tone early on, but allows it to become too broad. The worst offender would be the design of Hal’s son’s smarmy stepdad (Elijah Wood, trying too hard) who wants to officially adopt the teenager. Wood’s character has only one scene, but the goofy performance feels out of place, as the other cast members play their roles straight. 

The screenplay’s strongest feature is how Perkins refuses to drum up some unneeded explanation of why the monkey is evil. In a film this devoted to amping up the malevolence, it is refreshing to see a filmmaker refuse to kowtow to modern audience sensibilities. Today’s moviegoers shun ambiguity and demand explanations delivered in a tidy bow. Osgood Perkins is too interesting a filmmaker. He knows that sometimes, evil is just evil and to burden the script with a backstory for the toy would have been a serious misstep.

The design of the titular toy is impressive and properly creepy. What would normally be an innocent looking plaything for a child becomes a realized evil. The monkey’s big eyes and wide smile give way to something more maniacal when Nico Aguilar’s camera captures its face in closeup. The toy’s spinning drumsticks become the harbinger of doom, as we wait for them to strike. 

Such a fantastic design by the effects crew was hindered before production. As in King’s story, the monkey was the old fashioned cymbal crashing toy. The folks at Disney somehow own the rights to the cymbals because of the toy monkey in Toy Story. Osgood and his team were forced to change it to the drum, which the director claims he ultimately preferred. 

One bold kill after another gives the film its spark and the actors do well, but ultimately, there isn’t much to it all besides the clever death sequences. The director tries hard not to expose the movie’s fairly empty center, as he keeps things so lively that we don’t always notice. While uneven, there is fun to be had.

Oz Perkins knows family trauma. He is the son of actor Anthony Perkins, who died of AIDS in 1992 when the director was only 18. Perkins’ mother, actress Berry Berenson, was one of the victims of American Airlines Flight 11 when terrorists flew the plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. While his filmography is filled with bleak horror works (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Longlegs), whether or not the filmmaker’s personal tragedies have shaped his style isn’t for us to unearth, but he certainly makes good use of purging his personal pain.

With The Monkey, Perkins has chosen to ease up a bit. There will certainly be blood, but this time time, the director tried out deliciously mischievous laughs to offset a film loaded with tragedy. A spoonful of sugar makes the bloody medicine go down. 

The Monkey

Written and Directed by Osgood Perkins (Adapted from the short story by Stephen King)

Starring Theo James, Christian Convery, Tatiana Maslany, Colin O’Brien

R, 98 Minutes, Neon, Atomic Monster, Black Bear Releasing