Film review: ‘THE MONKEY’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Based on a Stephen King short story and directed by Osgood Perkins, who gave us last year’s overrated Longlegs, The Monkey is an awkward mash-up of grossout horror and quirky comedy that isn’t especially scary or funny.
The eponymous monkey is a slightly creepy looking toy critter that two young twins, obnoxious bully Bill and his main victim, nervous younger brother Hal (both played by Christian Convery) discover following their father’s death. Clearly not having watched enough murderous supernatural toy movies, Hal and Bill unwittingly decide to crank the key in the monkey’s back triggering a series of mysterious and gory deaths. The boys try to dispose of the fiendish monkey but even decades later it’s still not done with its killing spree.
About half the film involves ridiculously over-the-top gruesome deaths with people impaled, blown up or pulverised into goo. These will probably provide fleeting thrills for unabashed gore hounds but the deaths are premised on such ludicrous situations they lack any real shock value so most viewers will lose interest pretty quickly. Also, we’ve seen this sort of thing done better countless times in movies like the Final Destination series.
Perhaps recognising its weakness as pure horror, Perkins has also tried to make The Monkey a comedy adding lashings of goofball humour. Some of this works, especially a cameo from Elijah Wood as an arrogant uber rich lifestyle guru. It’s a tricky balancing act mixing horror and comedy, however and ultimately the jokiness extinguishes any sense of supernatural menace and by the film’s second half the comedy has worn very thin.
A bigger problem, though, is that the monkey is almost redundant as a monster. It barely moves, except to play its drum and is merely a conduit for some unknown supernatural force rather than being directly responsible for the killings. The deaths occur simply because someone has cranked the monkey’s key. Consequently, the creature feels weirdly detached from the deadly mayhem. Also, (unlike the doll in Annabell or the hand in Talk to Me) the monkey lacks an interestingly sinister backstory or mythology.
Much of the film revolves around the hapless Hal, both as child and adult (Theo James). As a victim of constant bullying, it seemed odds-on he would try to weaponise the monkey for revenge purposes a lot more than he does. While clichéd, this would have been much more interesting than what we’re served here, a collection of miscellaneous deaths. Young Christian Convery, however, does an impressive job making Hal a sympathetic victim and Bill a vile little swine. As the adult version of the two boys, Theo James is solid enough but lacks the quirky charisma required of a character at the centre of a comical horror film; it needed a Bruce Campbell.
If there had been a greater psychological purpose to the monkey, possibly as a manifestation of Bill’s anxieties or as an avatar of male aggression, this would have been a more interesting film. With a more purposeful script, Osgood Perkins, who clearly has a flair for moody aesthetics, could have crafted a semi-decent horror flick. Instead, we’re left with the sort of simplistic jokey splatter fest we might have watched once on VHS on a slow night back in the 80’s.
Nick’s rating: **
Genre: Horror/ comedy.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Osgood Perkins..
Release date: 20th Feb 2025.
Running time: 98 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
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