Director: Osgood Perkins Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood Running Time: 98 minutes
As someone who isn’t necessarily a fan of scary movies, mostly because I enjoy sleeping at night, I approached the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey with extreme caution. Walking into the dimly lit viewing hall of the Light House Cinema I expect to be faced with pure nightmare fuel, what I got was an eerie, fast paced thriller that surprisingly did not leave me permanently traumatized.
You’ll have to forgive me because I’m still relatively new to this movie reviewing game; but let me tell you about The Monkey. Based on the 1980 short story of the same name, the film is essentially a family drama featuring: childhood trauma, unsettling nostalgia, a toy monkey causing cartoonishly evil chaos, and of course some seriously deadly consequences. When brothers Bill and Hal (younger Christian Covney, older Theo James) uncover a long lost family ‘treasure’, their lives are irreparably upended by this maniacal monkey that kills with no qualms and “doesn’t do requests”.
Instead of full on chaotic horror, director Oz Perkins leans into that classic King suspense, slowly and methodically building tension rather than a bombardment of jumpscares. While not overtly scary, the film is quite gruesome at times, and surprisingly, quite funny too. Humour and horror are not genres I would have ever placed side by side, but I won’t object to my gore being served up with a side of giggles. That being said; instead of balancing the tension, at times the jokes undercut it and made certain scenes feel less impactful than they could have been.
Never in my life did I ever imagine that the sight of a toy monkey, eyes shining with a 32 tooth salute, would send a chill down my spine. While we are aware of the monkey’s murderous capabilities from the opening scene, the film is not immediately about the toy going on a killing spree; instead Perkins allows us to sit in the creeping realization that something is terribly wrong. When the onslaught does begin, it is delivered to us by way of grisly freak accident; from a hibachi beheading, to a horse stampede that did to a human what stomping does to grapes.
I was fully prepared to be terrified by The Monkey, but somehow, against all odds, I found myself wrapped up in the story- and dare I say, having a good time. While I won’t be rushing to do it again, this horror film was overall worth the watch.
(3 / 5)