Osgood Perkins strikes horror gold again with this horror/comedic take on Stephen King’s short story “The Monkey.”
King’s story follows Hal Shelburn. Hal’s son, Petey, discovers a windup monkey in a box while exploring the attic of his father’s childhood home. It turns out Hal had in turn found the monkey among his own father’s things in a closet. As a child, Hal soon realized that whenever the monkey clapped its cymbals, a death or calamity followed.
Perkins (“Longlegs”) greatly expands on the original, making Hal (Theo James – “Mr. Malcolm’s List) a twin with his nasty, few minutes older brother Bill.
The story begins with their airline captain father, Pete (Adam Scott – “Madame Web”), trying to rid himself of the cursed monkey (now with a drum instead of cymbals) by returning it to the pawn shop where he bought it. The monkey strikes its drum and a series of Rube Goldberg incidents result in the pawnbroker (Shafin Karim – “Longlegs”) being impaled and then disemboweled. The captain then tries to destroy the monkey with a blowtorch (unsuccessfully) and disappears from the narrative.
Later, the captain’s twin sons discover the monkey in a hatbox in their home. Randomly, they realize that it has the ability to kill. Then, in a rage, Hal uses the monkey to try to kill his abusive brother, but instead their mother is sacrificed. The monkey kills, but victims of its own choice.
After their mother’s funeral the boys toss the monkey down a deep well, hoping that will prevent any more tragedy. However, that’s only the beginning.
The remainder of the film is the product of Perkins’ fertile mind. For gore lovers, there is an ever changing and ever increasing level of slaughter. For mystery lovers, there is layer upon layer of bizarre inter-relationships. Perkins even manages to throw in some depth of character for the humanists among us. Finally, as in his earlier films, there is the growing dread that, no matter what they do, these people are cursed and the evil they’ve unwittingly stumbled upon will triumph.
Everything about this production is deliciously first rate, from the ever-sarcastic dialogue to the cinematography, editing, and score. Fine if stylized performances are evident throughout, with even a small part as relative and victim played by Perkins himself. And don’t miss a cameo by Elijah Wood (“Lord of the Rings”) as an egotistical, ostentatious, gauche, self-help author who steals Hal’s “parental energy” in order to adopt his biological son – a son Hal has limited contact with for fear of infectng him with the curse.
Runtime: One hour, 36 minutes
Availability: In theaters and available for sale or rent on streaming services
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