‘The Monkey’: New Images Tease the Upcoming Terrifying Stephen King Adaptation!! Check It Out!!

Another adaptation from legendary horror author Stephen King will be hitting theaters soon, as 2025 will see the release of The Monkey. The Neon film, directed by horror auteur Oz Perkins, is based on King‘s frightening short story of the same name, and Entertainment Weekly has just released a batch of new photos depicting two of the main characters in the film, played by Theo James and Tatiana Maslany.

The four photos show off what promises to be a frightening adventure. The film, based on King‘s 1980 short story, follows twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played by James), who find a toy monkey in their father’s closet as kids. However, they soon realize this monkey is more than just a toy, as supernatural events and deaths start to occur around them. Eventually, they get rid of the monkey for 25 years … before it returns with a vengeance. The photos show off James, as well as a frightening shot of the twin’s mother (Maslany) and a behind-the-scenes shot of Perkins and James.

When it came to adapting the story for the screen, Perkins “wanted to make a family movie, but an R-rated one,” James, who channeled Tom Hanks for his performance of the two twins, told EW. “It’s hyper dark, but also it has heart to it, and it’s really funny.” The film also stars Elijah Wood, Sarah Levy, Rohan Campbell, Christian Convery, and Colin O’Brien.

‘The Monkey’ is Personal For Perkins

New look at Tatiana Maslany, Theo James and Nicco Del Rio in Oz Perkinsʼ #TheMonkey.

In theaters February 21.

Source: @EW pic.twitter.com/YnZ6u8XNL0

— Screen Rant (@screenrant) December 19, 2024

For Perkins, telling the story of traumatizing deaths was personal; his father, actor Anthony Perkins, died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1992, while his mother, Berry Berenson, died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “I’ve had people die in truly, deeply insane ways,” Perkins told EW. “Everybody dies whether there’s a monkey or not. What if you could do this with a smile — process the fact that everybody dies? And what an insane, surrealist notion, dude! You will die; we’ll all die. That’s crazy s**t. To do that as a comedy felt very apropos.”

Perkins directed The Monkey from a self-adapted screenplay. The film was produced by James Wan for his Atomic Monster banner alongside Michael Clear. Jason Cloth and Dave Caplan produced for C2 Motion Picture Group, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones produced for Range, and Chris Ferguson produced for Odd Fellows. John Friedberg executive produced for Black Bear.