The Monkey (2025) Review

Let’s be honest, Longlegs was a disappointment. Although it did contain a great central performance from Maika Monroe, it’s supernatural storyline owed much too much to many far better films. Added to this, the marketing campaign – which hyped it beyond belief – set audience expectations far higher than anyone could achieve.

That said, the film did extremely well at cinemas across the land, propelling its writer and director into the limelight and as my review said “all we can hope is going forwards, Osgood Perkins uses the new found fame and commercial footing to indulge his more interesting and unconventional horror ideas.”

On the face of it, adapting a Stephen King story is neither interesting nor unconventional. With a career spanning over 50 years, King’s works have been remade by multiple directors inciting fear on screens large and small for centuries, from Carrie to Misery, The Lawnmower Man to The Shawshank Redemption, alongside multiple It’s, Pet Sematary’s and Salem’s Lot’s.

Although many of King’s most famous adaptations were big budget Hollywood productions, up until 2023 the King of Horror ran the Dollar Baby programme which allowed students, inexperienced filmmakers and theatre producers to adapt any one of his 218 odd short stories for only $1 while he retained the rights.

One of those short stories is The Monkey. First published in a magazine in 1980 then revised for King’s collection Skeleton Crew in 1985 it received its first transfer to film as part of the Dollar Baby scheme in 2022 and now 3 years later its Osgood Perkins latest movie. Oh, and its fucking great!

Its titular character is a drum playing toy monkey who has the power to kill at the turn of its key. Inherited by twin brothers from their pilot father, who disappeared after trying to dispose of it, the meek and mild Hal and arrogant and annoying Bill (both played with aplomb by Sweet Tooth and Cocaine Bear’s Christian Convery) realise they have something dangerous on their hands when they set it off and soon after their babysitter has her head cut off at a local restaurant.

Hal, who is relentlessly bullied at school and by his brother at home, uses the monkey again with horrifyingly unexpected results. After failing to destroy the immortal instrument of destruction, the duo throw it in a huge hole hoping to never see its grimacing face or hear its deadly drumming ever again.

25 years later Hal (Theo James from The Gentlemen and The White Lotus) is a father himself. However, he only opts to see his son Petey (Colin O’Brien) once a year due to the all encompassing fear he has that the sinister simian will return.

This fear is proven correct when return it does, exactly during the one week that Hal and Petey are together, plunging the uncomfortable pair into a world of unbelievable and unexpected deaths – the path of which leads not only to a reunion with the monkey, but also Hal’s estranged sibling Bill (also played by James), who has been awfully busy since the brothers last met.

The setup is simple, once the monkey starts to drum someone dies. Who and how is the mystery, infusing The Monkey with flavours of the fabulous Final Destination franchise, as the viewer scrutinises each scene looking out for the fantastical fatality.

Whereas Longlegs took itself way too seriously, The Monkey is a gore-filled joyride from start to finish. It’s very aware of its own ridiculousness and guaranteed to make horror fans laugh out loud at every extreme, outrageous and disturbingly enjoyable death.

As hilarious and horrible as it is, The Monkey is not just a series of blood soaked set-ups, and Osgood Perkins enriches the original short story bringing plenty of character development and depth into the heady mix of comedic horror and visceral violence.

Investigating absent fathers and sibling rivalry, it is ultimately a meditation on death itself and the random and unfair way it strikes those we love without rhyme or reason. With echoes of Death Note and The Monkeys Paw, whoever controls the terrifying toy is protected. However, they don’t always get what they want, and the pursuit of ultimate control over life itself plunges those around the monkey into madness.

Playing both adult roles, Theo James is brilliant and the supporting cast including She-Hulk Tatiana Maslany as the twins’ manic mother, and superb cameos from Elijah Wood, Adam Scott and Perkins himself as Uncle Chip elevate the film above a simple splatter-fest.

An immense amount of fun, The Monkey is best viewed in a packed auditorium amongst fellow horror lovers laughing their heads off while watching others loose theirs. With this movie, Perkins has proven there is much more to him than Longlegs, and with another horror already announced I can’t wait to see what he brings us next.

Movie Rating:

The Monkey trailer