The Monkey (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.

My Take – Considering that I am an avid reader/massive fan of Stephen King‘s works, and thoroughly appreciated filmmaker Osgood Perkins‘ previous works, particularly last year’s serial killer thriller, Longlegs, this one was probably the most anticipated horror title of the year on my list.

But while I fully expected this one to deliver a familiar haunted object experience, what I didn’t expect was the complete subversion of my previous assumptions. Delivering a ridiculous, broad, pitch-black horror-comedy that doesn’t pull any punches.

Adapted from Stephen King‘s 1980 short story, the film uses its eerie premise to explore deeper themes of trauma, fate, and family. But keeps things relatively less restrained by blending supernatural horror, dark comedy, and absurdity in a way that feels both ridiculous and wildly entertaining.

Yes, not everything works in its favor.

The story is probably a bit too simple and the narrative could have better balanced its humor with more of its dramatic beats. However, writer-director Perkins is clearly not interested in exploring deep narratives or complex character arcs.

Instead, he keeps the narrative moving along swiftly, focusing more on the chaotic spectacle than the plot. An over-the-top, blood-soaked thrill ride that makes you laugh even as you cringe at its gruesome kills. Even when the formula seems to be persistent, the script throws in enough surprises to keep things fresh.

Beginning 1999, the story follows Hal (Christian Convery), who along with his identical twin brother Bill (Christian Convery) and their mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany), is still reeling from the sudden disappearance of their pilot father Petey (Adam Scott). With Lois convinced that Petey walked out on them, preferring some unknown stewardess, over taking care of his family.

Yet, Hal feels a certain connection with the drum-playing toy monkey when he unearths it from his father’s hidden belongings, and simply just winds its key. Not realizing the hell he has unleashed upon anyone close-by. As turning the key results in a confirmed, random, quite horrific death. Though, it takes a few bodies for the young brothers to recognize the pattern, but once they see it, they chain up the monkey in a box and throw it into a well.

Twenty-five years later, a traumatized and divorced Hal (Theo James) is estranged not only from his brother, but also from his teenage son Petey (Colin O’Brien), believing to keep him at arm’s length lest the monkey ever returns. And just when Hal and Petey begin to spend their final weekend together before he signs away his parental rights, the sudden brutal deaths around him, beginning with his Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy), convinces Hal that the toy monkey is back and someone is winding its key.

The opening scene perfectly sets the tone for the insanity ahead. With a beautiful mix of dark comedic beats and a gruesome kill, it easily captures the full attention of anyone watching the events unfolding. What sets the film apart from its influences is its surprising dose of humor. You’re not exactly belly-laughing, but there’s this strange, undeniable urge to chuckle at the madness on screen.

It’s bizarre, but it works. From random dialogue and characters like a group of cheerleaders arriving at Hal and Bill’s old house to cheer on the removal of a dead body by coroners, to the wild deaths, director Perkins does not hold back. Here, Death itself is treated as a fact of life, but also approached with a sense of comical callousness that underscores its level of unbridled nonsense.

On the flip side, this approach leaves the film minus the proposed scares. Beyond the gruesome deaths, the terror is practically non-existent. A complete opposite to the eerie unsettling experience that saw Longlegs (2024). But the kills present are some of the most creative I have ever seen on film, even rivaling the Final Destination films. One character gets her foot stuck in a milk jug, tripping and impaling herself on the stake of an old-fashioned wooden mailbox, while her hair is on fire and her face is full of fishing lures. Two others literally explode into wet goo and red mist as Hal looks on, horrified.

But director Perkins saves the best death for himself, casting himself as Hal and Bill’s swinger uncle Chip who gets trampled by a herd of wild horses while on a camping trip. His fate is revealed by a smash cut to his funeral, as the film’s omnipotent narrator Hal compares his mangled remains to a cherry pie filling.

The film is at its weakest when it tries too hard to explain what’s happening, either on a plot or on a thematic level. The toy monkey itself is given just enough background to be satisfying, laying down its ground rules and leaving it at that. Exploring what the monkey actually is and what it truly wants would only dampen, as the mystery of the toy adds so much to the tone and story, even more so then if we had gotten more information.

It helps that Theo James and Christian Convery deliver truly captivating performances as the adult and young versions of Hal and Bill. Theo James has come a long way from his Divergent series days, and does a pretty good job of playing the two characters as different people. He carries both of them differently enough for audiences to never be confused. Even Convery provides Hal and Bill with a real vulnerability that keeps one invested.

Tatiana Maslany leaves a strong impression as Lois and her laid-back, frank outlook on life (and death) that gives the boys a common framework for understanding the calamity brought about by the titular freaky-looking wind-up toy monkey they inherited.

Colin O’Brien too does enough to enhance the narrative, especially by not portraying his teen as those particularly annoying ones. In small roles, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy are decent, while Adam Scott, Elijah Wood and Laura Mennell leave a mark in their guest appearances. On the whole, ‘The Monkey‘ is a wild and ridiculous horror comedy ride that embraces its absurdity wholeheartedly.