The Gist
A mysterious toy monkey ruins the lives of twins – and now it could lead to their ultimate downfall.
The Revew
Mixing comedy and horror together is always a risky venture for a filmmaker. Get it right and you end up with a classic movie like Scary Movie or Werewolves Within, get it wrong and you get a film that is dangerously likely to pick up a Razzie or two.
Sadly for brand new horror-comedy The Monkey the film is very much in the latter as the film goes so hard to get a laugh that it seems to forget that when it comes to horror you need some kind of lore when it comes to the horror itself.
Directed and written by Osgood Perkins (Longlegs), while based on a short story by the legendary Stephen King, The Monkey tells the story of what happens when twins Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery (Cocaine Bear) find a toy wind-up monkey that their father collected on his travels as an airline pilot.
Since his disappearance playing with his belongings are the only connection that the twins have to their father and while most of the games they play are innocent the wind-up monkey seems to come with some danger. Whenever he is wound up and plays his drums someone dies – including the twins’ babysitter Annie (Danica Dreyer – Silk Road 2).
Things then get worse when the hatred between the twins gets to the point where Hal decides to use the monkey curse to kill Bill… which has catastrophic results.
Move forward 25 years and Hal (Theo James – Divergent) is still haunted by the monkey. He has spoken to Bill (also played by Theo James) for years but when unexpected deaths begin again Hal realises that perhaps it is time to say goodbye to his son, Petey (Colin O’Brien – Wonka), and disappear in a bid to protect from the curse. When his Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy – Schitt’s Creek) is killed though he decided to take Petey for one last road trip… a foolish decision that soon puts their lives on the line.
To be honest there isn’t a hell of a lot of The Monkey that works at all. Early on the film works as the audience is drawn into the mystery of this monkey and its powers – while the family dynamic between Hal, Bill and their mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany – Stronger) is an interesting one that borders on Little Miss Sunshine territory. But from there the film goes downhill.
For a horror film to have full affect the actual horror, how it works – its motivations etc – needs to be revealed at sometime during the film. It is okay to keep the audience guessing or in suspense for part of the movie but if it gets to the closing credits and they are still wondering what the hell was happening with the horror elements then the screenplay itself has failed miserably.
With the horror side of the film not really working you would hope that perhaps the comedy element of The Monkey would work a little better, but alas that isn’t on song either. Yes, you will laugh occasionally at the odd funny one liner but really the only reaction that this fil will really get from the audience is the odd laugh and gasp from the some of the kill scenes here.
Yes, while a majority of the film doesn’t work the deaths themselves do. From some particularly nasty death, that you would normally expect to see in a schlock horror, through to some that are just down right funny they really are the best part of this film.
The other positive from The Monkey are the acting performances of both Christian Convery and Theo James. Both actors excel at playing characters that are completely different to each other and often share scenes together. James does it brilliantly but of course has a lot more experience than Convery who has to act well and truly above his age and experience in order to pull off his more intense and difficult scenes successfully. It is really their acting performances that in a way save this film because despite their obvious talents even the more experienced cast members, like Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings), can’t save this film because they are given nothing decent to work with.
The Verdict
The Monkey really is a bit of a failure of the film. Its talented cast are powerless to save this film because the horror elements of the film are never fully explored while the screenplay often contradicts itself – ie Hal deciding he needs to separate himself from Petey for Petey’s safety but then taking him a road trip that takes him into danger. As a filmmaker Osgood Perkins showed some talent with Longlegs but The Monkey is a real letdown.
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