Review: The Monkey – The nature of Monkey was irrepressible
Directed by Osgood Perkins
Starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Colin O’Brien
8/10
Based on the Stephen King short story, The Monkey sees two young brothers visited by a curse from their absentee father, a toy monkey that brings death and chaos with it. Amongst all the usual teenage struggles, Mal and Bill also deal with the cursed artefact, but decades later, Mal (Theo James) must deal with the fact that the demonic clockwork simian may have returned.
The Monkey perfectly blends horror with a Stygian dark comedy, demonstrating impeccable timing for both genres. The whole thing feels like Stephen King writing an episode of The Twilight Zone that turns into a Looney Tunes version of Final Destination. If we’re being honest, that’s pretty much what The Monkey is, and it’s as surreally amazing and strangely entertaining as that description sounds.
King’s original short story holds many echoes of cursed objects, or demon toys, that littered Rod Serling’s classic TV morality play (although it’s probably W.W. Jacobs’ short story The Monkey’s Paw that’s the most prominent inspiration). His (King’s) influence feels most at home in the childhood recollection segment which fills the first third of the film. You can hear his narrative voice in Mal’s recollection as he accounts how the monkey comes into their lives bringing chaos and death. After the time jump, everything changes.
Dealing with the aftermath of those childhood tragedies, The Monkey becomes more Perkins’ (Longlegs) unique piece as they expand on the original story. There’s a subtle shift in the colour palette of the film, signifying Mal’s withdrawal from the world, but it’s still given gory pops of colour through Raimi-inspired, over-the-top gore.
Yet for all the people exploding like balloons filled with blood and viscera, The Monkey does have some depth of theme to it. Theo James puts in a marvellously understated performance as Mal, struggling with issues of being a father while dealing with the void left by his own father’s disappearance. The whole thing is a metaphor for dealing with guilt, generational trauma, and violence—punctuated by the guilty pleasures of trauma-inducing celluloid violence. It’s hard to take it seriously, but as an audience, it’s also impossible to ignore the subtext.
A tight, immaculately constructed piece of horror comedy. The Monkey is not for everyone, but horror fans are going to find themselves cackling at the splatter fest. Yet amongst the gore is a smart film that pays respect to its origins and the genre it is working. One that is likely to find cult status.
DAVID O’CONNELL