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Film: The Monkey
Year: 2025
Director: Osgood Perkins
Writer: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany and Christian Convery
Review:
This was a film that I was intrigued by when I heard it was coming out. I remember reading the original short story by Stephen King in high school. I had it in my head that it was adapted to the screen by George A. Romero, but Monkey Shines uses that toy for the poster while being something completely different. Knowing that Osgood Perkins was the writer/director here, I was intrigued to check this out. I did watch this the week after its opening.
Synopsis: when twin brothers Bill and Hal (both played by Christian Convery) find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.
We start this with a fun cold open. This is inside of a pawn shop. It focuses on different things until Capt. Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) comes in with the item from the synopsis. He has blood on him and the shop owner is concerned. Petey wants to return the item, but the policy isn’t to take toys back. This leads to disaster and Petey thinks he’s destroyed the toy for good.
What we will learn though is that he never came back. He has left his wife, Lois (Tatiana Maslany) alone with their twin sons, Bill and Hal. The latter is our narrator. He tells the story of how Bill came out first and treats Hal like his younger brother. He is a bully. Hal also deals with others in school like this. One day when they’re going through their father’s things, they find this monkey toy. They wind it up, but it looks like it is broken. Hal continues to see this toy, appearing in different places. That is when they experience the first casualty, their babysitter at a hibachi restaurant.
Hal finally has had enough. He wishes his brother was dead and winds up with the toy. This has a result he wasn’t expecting. It forces the siblings to move in with their Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) and Uncle Chip (Perkins). Bill confronts Hal, starting to believe that toy could be to blame. It is decided to seal and hide it away in the family well.
That then brings us to the present. Hal is now played by Theo James. He has a son, Petey (Colin O’Brien). Hal has distanced himself from him and the mother, played by Laura Mennell, in hopes to avoid anything bad happening to them. Hal does get to see his son one week a year, which is by his request. When he comes to pick up his son, there could be changes to the arrangements. The mother is now married to Ted Hammerman (Elijah Wood), who is a new age guru on parenting. Hal needs to make his time count.
It is from here that his plans get derailed. Hal’s brother reaches out with an odd request. Bill has the monkey and he might be playing with it. His mania over the lives close to him he’s lost have come to a head and Hal has to decide what to do, putting his and Petey’s lives at risk.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with the fact that I wasn’t fully prepared for what we got here. This is more of a comedy than I was expecting. Ahead of writing my review, I started to listen to the Average’s Podcast about this one. There were things about the history of writer/director Perkins and why he approached making this the way that he did. I’m glad that I heard this ahead of writing, because it helps me make sense of things better.
Now that I have that set up, this is a wild and fun movie. I’ll say here that we are getting a blend of a cursed item with Final Destination. These twin brothers find this toy, trying playing with it and it doesn’t seem to work. That is until their babysitter is killed. Hal has had enough of his brother and the bullies at school. He then does something that will alter their lives forever. Or does he? Regardless, something happens and he’s terrified of the toy. The tragedies and loss have a different effect on Bill. I do like playing with these ideas here, especially since it seems like a cathartic way of Perkins dealing with his own grief.
I then want to circle back to something that I brought up already. This does lean more into comedy than I was expecting. It does hurt the tone for me. Something else I heard was that Perkins did this by design. He thought that it would be too bleak and dark if they did make this into a satire. I do see what he’s saying. It was also to set this apart from other cursed toy movies. Let me pull in filmmaking aspects here as well, the Final Destination-esque deaths are great. The over the top nature and figuring out something at the start of the third act made me appreciate this. Having the comedy there works. The cinematography and framing were good to help hide seams. Now there is CGI used here. I am forgiving due to cutting away early. Going just a bit more practical would help, but I also understand that isn’t fully possible as well.
Shifting back over to what didn’t work with the comedy is just how absurd the story is. I think they needed to ground it just a bit more to work. This is one that I need to rewatch, now that I know the tone, as I think I may have missed things. What works is the boys losing their mother and needing to live with their aunt and uncle. My issue is the present. I get Hal estranging himself to protect his family. I don’t even hate the situation with his ex, her new husband and the custody of the son. Where I lose things, a bit is just how over the top everything is with Bill. Again, I do want to revisit this to see if I’m just being overly critical.
I believe the only other thing to go into would be the acting performances. James and Convery have interesting roles as they're both playing these characters, the latter as the teens and the other as adults. I love how Convery seems like the distinct younger version with James doing the same as the adults. Hal and Bill are both odd in their own ways. It works so well. Maslany is good as their mother. I loved seeing Levy and Perkins taking on their weird aunt and uncle, who never wanted kids. O’Brien is good as Hal’s son. I liked the cameos by Scott and Wood. If anything, I could use more of both. The acting is quirky, but that fits the tone of this film for sure.
There isn’t more to go into so I’ll say in conclusion, this is an odd film. It is fun though; that’s something to give it credit for. There is a heavy subject, then knowing the personal connection to Perkins adds to it. I do love the idea of this toy that causes deaths around it, especially in the most outrageous ways possible. The acting is quirky, but it fits the tone. This is well-made. The cinematography and framing help hide the seams of the effects. I’d like them to go practical just a bit more, but I get that would be too difficult. I don’t know if this will be for everyone. I had a blast though. If what I said sounds good, I’d recommend it. One that I’m excited to revisit for sure.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10