THE MONKEY. You Can’t Cheat Fate [REVIEW]

Very quickly after completing Longlegs, which turned out to be one of the most important horror films of the past year, Osgood Perkins began working on his next film. Although the director chose again to explore the horror genre, the film is entirely different from the previous one. Primarily because this time, Perkins opted for a lighter form – a black comedy based on a short story by Stephen King from the collection Skeleton Crew (1985). A few years ago, an amateur adaptation of The Monkey was made by Spencer Sherry, as part of the “Dollar Baby” project, in which Stephen King gives students permission to adapt his works for a symbolic dollar. However, King does not sell the rights to the works, which is why we now have another, fully professional adaptation.

However, there was a problem with the rights to the appearance of the titular toy. The Jolly Chimp, as it appeared in King’s novella, was used in the animated film Toy Story 3 (2010), and the rights to it are owned by Disney. Therefore, the toy’s appearance had to be changed, and as a result, the cymbals were replaced with a marching drum. This subtle change intensified the unsettling atmosphere of the film – the marching drum gives the scenes a more ominous tone. The raised hand of the monkey, suspended in anticipation of the next strike, becomes a visual symbol of tension, amplifying the suspense and suggesting that something inevitable is about to happen.

The monkey’s demonic power is evident from the prologue when the owner tries to get rid of it in an antique shop, only for a bizarre death of the antique dealer to occur. A few years later, twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn find the demonic toy among their father’s belongings and unwittingly wind it up. Not long after, their caregiver Annie Wilkes (a character taken from King’s Misery) is decapitated in a Japanese restaurant. The boys soon discover that the strange deaths surrounding them are the result of the monkey-percussionist, a seemingly innocent toy, but in reality a malevolent demon. Unlike the Monkey’s Paw by William W. Jacobs, this object doesn’t grant wishes; only the person who winds the key is safe, activating the mechanism.

Oz Perkins, while creating a film based on King’s short story, cleverly inserted elements of his own biography into it. The monkey symbolizes the father’s secret, which has a profound impact on the family’s life. The director, the son of Anthony Perkins, grew up in the shadow of a complicated legacy – his father, the iconic actor who portrayed Norman Bates, had long concealed his bisexuality, despite many rumors that made life difficult for the family. The death of Oz and his younger brother Elvis’s mother, Berry Berenson, in the 9/11 terrorist attack (she died aboard the hijacked plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center) was also a huge shock. In the film, the mother’s death leaves a deep mark on the relationship between the brothers, deepening their sense of isolation and forcing them to confront the secrets of the past. Hal and Bill – much like Oz and Elvis once did – must face their father’s difficult legacy and find their own way amid traumatic experiences.

Ultimately, Elvis Perkins, like his famous namesake, found his place in the music industry, while Osgood entered the film industry – as an actor, screenwriter, and director (he fulfilled all three roles in this film). “Everything I do in the creative space happens around family,” the director admitted in an interview. The titular monkey is a symbol of the family curse, which reveals old wounds, repressed fears, and unspoken pain from loss. But it is also a metaphor for death – inevitable, capricious, and completely beyond human control. The deaths occur suddenly during ordinary daily activities without any logic or pattern. With its absolutely crazy staging, it recalls the Final Destination series (since 2000), but unlike that franchise, where characters manage to cheat death, Perkins clearly indicates that there is no escape from death. The ticking spring mechanism inside the monkey is as unpredictable as the mechanism controlling our fate.

I haven’t mentioned the acting yet, and in this regard, the film works well too. Theo James, playing the twins Hal and Bill Shelburn, and Christian Convery, portraying the same characters as children, differentiate the brothers’ personalities with appropriate sensitivity, allowing viewers to easily distinguish them. The cast (including Tatiana Maslany as the mother and Elijah Wood in an absurd cameo) fits perfectly into the film’s unique tone, balancing between horror and grotesque. Perkins skillfully directs the actors, ensuring that even though their performances are sometimes exaggerated, they align with the convention and atmosphere of the story.

Due to its comedic elements, The Monkey is unlikely to rank among the top horror films of the year, but – at least in my opinion – it is very successful entertainment for fans of black humor, gore effects, and Stephen King’s work. The film does not aspire to be a masterpiece of horror and does not pretend to be an arthouse experiment or a metaphysical treatise on human fears. It is a conscious play with horror film tropes, devoid of subtlety. It works great as stylized bloody entertainment and a twisted take on genre motifs such as family trauma, the inevitability of fate, and cursed objects turning the characters’ lives into nightmares.