By Maurice Burbridge | February 24, 2025
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Arguably the world’s harshest truth, death comes for all of us. This year’s dark horror-comedy “The Monkey” showcases the cruelly inescapable nature of death, with a level of gruesomeness that has to be seen to be believed.
Theo James stars as twin brothers Hal and Bill (younger counterparts played by Christian Convery), whose single mother lets them roam freely through the rubbish left behind by the father they don’t remember. They come across one item of note: an old toy monkey capable of causing cartoonishly violent murders with a beat of its drum (a change from the short story the film adapts; monkeys with cymbals are copyrighted by Disney). All you have to do is wind it up. and it’ll do its thing. Though the toy will kill whoever he wants, often someone close to the person that “activated” it. If your favorite part of a horror film is the unrealistically violent and creative kills, see this Stephen King adaptation as soon as possible.
The overwhelming amount of blood and guts unfortunately doesn’t make up for what, to me, felt like juvenile humor and an underwhelming script. The premise itself is undeniably interesting and unique; how many horror films can you think of where the villain is a toy monkey? And though my previous descriptions may lead you to think otherwise, as well as the movie’s occasionally too unserious tone, the film actually does have thematic depth. Beyond its overt role as the fictional universe’s version of the grim reaper, the titular monkey symbolizes the endless loop of familial trauma, if left ignored, and how poorly fathered sons eventually become poor fathers themselves.
The opening scene, starring Adam Scott (perhaps most recognizable for currently leading the acclaimed show “Severance”) is a perfect set-up of the film’s, eventually tiring, combination of extremely graphic violence and crude humor. Yet, it is distinguished from later sequences because of how deeply you can connect with his character. Maybe it’s just chalked up to Scott’s amazing performance, but the desperation and deeply ingrained fear in this one-off-side character made me immediately want to know more about him and his story.
On the other hand, the actual main characters of the film are restricted to tropes like bullying and grief to compel you to connect with characters who ultimately feel like more of a plot-device to move the narrative along to the next showstopping-murder than as fully well rounded people. With the film’s 25-year time jump, we get to see these twins in very different contexts at vastly varied points in their life, and yet, it’s as if no character development has occurred at all.
The reason the “Saw” franchise’s best entries, known for their creatively bloody and graphic kills, work so well is because despite a tendency to prioritize flashy violence over an engaging narrative, the violence still occurs to characters with clear goals, personalities, and depth. Anything can be shocking and entertaining, but violence in cinema is most impactful when there’s narrative significance.
Ideally, there’s characters you love, those you hate, and those who have you feeling a little bit of both. However, “The Monkey” is filled with one-dimensional characters with flimsy reasons for their actions. After letting the film sit with me, rather than remembering the characters names, or even their personalities, I instead remember their tropes: the bullied kid, the mean older brother, the kind mom, the weird aunt, the hot babysitter, etc.
This wouldn’t even necessarily be a bad thing if the film as a whole was entertaining. I can’t lie, almost every kill, of which there are many, shocked me deeply, and I was often impressed by the various ways in which director Osgood Perkins could imagine death abruptly coming to people. But after a short pause, it’s as if the death never happened and I was simply waiting for the next blink-and-you’ll-miss-it murder of another character. I had no reason to care about dying.
There's one relatively long sequence where a character narrowly escapes death multiple times, with a genuinely exciting increasing tension that ends in darkly humorous violence that feels more purposeful, rather than violence for the sake of having a high death count that can be used in marketing.
Alas, it’s not all-bad, and I do think that the film is aware of its own preference of style (murder) over substance (story) as well as the lack of depth of the characters. In addition, cinematographer Nico Aguilar plays with interesting perspectives and camera angles to create some very compelling and beautiful shots. This high-class camera work may confuse you into thinking this film is a high-brow horror, but at its core, it’s a (positively) trashy blood-fest meant to entertain. Maybe it’s my fault for wanting a little more.
Perkins’ last feature, “Longlegs” (2024), which experienced levels of acclaim similar to the amount of praise “The Monkey” has received also didn’t work for me. While the former felt like a soulless compilation of horror iconography and cliches, the latter at times takes itself too seriously when using under-developed characters to force-feed themes and symbolism that are already quite apparent. At other times, these under-developed characters (at best) and nameless extras (at worst) are instrumentalized for, admittedly impressively creative, death scenes that happen so quickly and frequently that rarely is the audience left to sit with the shock of the brutally graphic outcome.
Though I can’t recommend “The Monkey” on its own, as a theatrical experience, it was pretty enjoyable. The amount of brutal and shocking horror provides a lot of opportunity for cohesive crowd gasps, which would be even more enjoyable with a group of friends (that aren’t too squeamish).
Rating: 5/10 State Quad Fire Alarms
Locally, “The Monkey” begins screening at Regal theaters in Crossgates Mall and Colonie Center, on February 21, 2025. UAlbany students can purchase discounted tickets for Regal theaters from the Student Association in the Campus Center. “The Monkey” will also be screening at churches across the country on the same date.
Slight Spoiler: For a film titled “The Monkey,” it’s quite fun that the film itself is an example of the monkey’s paw: eventually getting what you wanted, but at a cost devastating to you and those close to you. Maybe the Ancient Romans had it right when they said not to test fate.