GENRE | Theo James Gets 'The Monkey' Off His Back

"Who's smiling now? You eternal son of a wh*re!"

Neon / Elevation Pictures

From Longlegs writer/director Osgood Perkins (son of famed Psycho actor Anthony Perkins) and producer James Wan comes another horror yarn based on the 1980 Stephen King short story of the same name. Revolving around the titular cursed drumming toy monkey, The Monkey is a complete turn from Perkins' previous film as he wastes the central premise's jokey conceit for a broadly comical, gory '90s-inspired genre adaptation in the tradition of the Final Destination franchise.

Starring Theo James as twin brothers, Hal and Bill (with Christian Convery as his child counterparts), they witness a string of horrifying deaths after stumbling upon their deadbeat dad's titular vintage wind-up animal toy as kids. When they attempt to leave this haunting experience behind and pursue separate paths after those around them parrish gruesomely, they discard the monkey until it comes back around to stalk them later in their lives.

The Monkey feels like a series of missed opportunities wasted on stylishly gnarly but unmoving kills and a silly familial feud between twins potted against each other by an evil toy. Perkins cements a sense of atmospheric dread that's not nearly as fun as it should be. There's too much snark and not enough swagger as the horror-comedy awkwardly leans into its cosmic joke of a premise without really addressing the persisting themes of lingering post-death trauma.


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