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Osgood Perkins crafted one of 2024’s very best films with his exceptional serial killer horror thriller “Longlegs”. It was a movie that received favorable reviews from both audiences and critics. But it was good enough to deserve serious awards season consideration. Sadly, by the end of the year, members of major award groups and critics' associations, including my own, had mostly ignored the film. Perkins immediately follows up with his new album, "The Monkey." This warped and twisted horror blend is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story. Perkins writes, directs, and takes countless liberties in his adaptation of King’s work. The most noticeable addition is the infusion of comedy into what is an otherwise a hyper-gory splatter film. Perkins keeps his tongue firmly lodged in his cheek as he has us chuckling one minute while spraying us with blood and guts the next.
Sadly, his blend of humor and horror doesn't quite work as well as he would like. The movie features several wild and spectacularly gory deaths that are sure to earn some audible gasps. Additionally, there are a few truly funny lines of dialogue scattered throughout the film. But it’s the story that attempts to connect it all that underwhelms. Not only is it a mess, but it bungles the heavier themes it introduces. As a result, all that remains is gore and hilarity, both of which quickly become tiresome. Christian Convery plays twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn, and Tatiana Maslany plays their single mother Lois. Due to the punk Bill's relentless bullying and demeaning of Hal, his more reserved brother, the boys were not particularly close. When they discover a wind-up musical monkey among the belongings of their deceased father in a closet, their lives are violently turned upside down. Now to the movie’s rules. Apparently whenever someone winds the key on the monkey’s back and it plays it drum someone is killed in a gruesomely outrageous manner. Why? We have no idea. Who or what is behind the monkey’s ‘power’? Your guess is as good as mine. The movie has no interest in answering such questions which naturally come from such a story.
The closest we get to answers are in the film’s abject cynicism. "Everyone dies and that's life," declares one character, "no point, no pattern." That might make for a fascinating philosophical debate, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the movie is good. It doesn't feel like a thought-provoking statement on the absurdity of death in "The Monkey," but rather like a cover-up. It gives Perkins a reason to splash viscera all over the screen in a variety of creative ways. The brothers, now played by Theo James, have been estranged for some 25 years, and they haven't spoken in years. Hal lives in seclusion but has a son named Petey (Colin O’Brien). In one of the film’s most underdeveloped story threads, Hal goes to pick up Petey for their once-a-year visit. While there, he’s informed by his ex-wife (Laura Mennell) that her successful new husband (Elijah Wood in a rather silly cameo) is adopting Petey. It's a wacky domestic angle that doesn't feel planned out at all. However, the monkey always returns to their lives. Hal and Bill thought they were rid of it and each other when they threw it down a well as kids. But it returns with another string of grisly and graphic deaths. Additionally, it brings the brothers back together in a way that is far from convincing. It all plays out in an outrageous final act that’s either care-free to the point of incoherence or smugly poking fun at genre fans and their willingness to consume anything as long as it’s coated in blood.
In contemporary horror, "The Monkey" continues a growing trend. It's yet another movie that goes all out on the gore without really trying to be scary. In this case, far more effort is put into being funny. However, far too frequently, the humor and the horror clash. At times they click, leading to some pretty good comic payoffs. However, the tone of chaos, lack of tension, and half-baked story, which almost feels like an afterthought, overshadow those efforts.
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