The Monkey: The Funniest Scary Movie Ever [Review]

“Everybody dies, and that’s life.” So says Hal Shelburn, played by Theo James, in Osgood Perkins’ latest film, The Monkey. As it turns out, that one line is incredibly apt for the surprisingly profound themes at the heart of this horror movie, as Perkins has created yet another chilling film.

Directed and written for the screen by Perkins and adapted from the short story of the same name by Stephen King, The Monkey follows twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn and their lifelong conflict with a toy monkey. With its drumsticks and snare, the monkey brings nothing but death and suffering to those surrounding Hal and Bill. An unintentional burden left behind by their father, who disappeared, Hal and Bill soon learn of how the monkey works and eventually find a way to dispose of it and move on with their lives.

That is until the monkey returns 25 years later.

Now adults living separate and estranged lives, the two brothers deal with their traumatic losses in entirely different ways. With the return of the monkey, Osgood Perkins takes his script and an astounding level of gory detail in the production design to tell a fascinating story about how death is a part of everyone’s lives, yet we can’t let fear of it dismantle our relationships with those closest to us.

The best part about the film is that it conveys these existential and intense themes with incredibly over-the-top and surprisingly comedic violence. Every death on screen is as gory, senseless, and absurd as it can be. Humans pop like balloons in The Monkey, and we, as viewers, bear witness to every bloody detail. With Perkins’ clever comedic sensibilities and Theo James’ pitch-perfect timing, the result is a film that is as horrifying and unsettling as it is hilarious. Hal, Bill, and Hal’s distant son Petey (Colin O’Brien) are the story’s main focus and help drive the narrative that signifies generational trauma and how parents can pass on their own grief and loss to their children.

While some may think such crass humor and graphic imagery might undermine the commentary of grief and loss, it’s actually quite the contrary. In between all the darker and funny moments is a heartfelt story, and it’s all thanks to Perkins’ expert balance of horror and comedy. The writer/director carefully builds tension with every scene involving the monkey, and its distinct design only helps to elevate the unease. At the same time, some unexpected actors (with Elijah Wood, Tatiana Maslany, and Adam Scott joining the film in more minor roles) play up the stark reality that the monkey is dangerous, contrary to the creature’s playful and silly design.

Every death in the movie is intricately designed, giving the Final Destination series a run for its money with its elaborate sequence of events. The film also has some impressive editing and transitions courtesy of Greg Ng and Graham Fortin, who know how to make viewers anxious about which victim the monkey will claim next and how exactly they’ll end up going down in the worst way possible. It’s a fascinating way to convey how the concept of death and its inevitability can seem to some people while also reinforcing the randomness and pointlessness of it all.

As both Hal and Bill, James works double duty, playing twins who couldn’t be further apart in ideals and responses to their trauma as children witnessing grotesque deaths. James’s subtle yet effective work includes the deadpan delivery in lines of one twin compared to the manic and rushed dialect of another, as his characters help to ground the film in a fascinating relationship that keeps things interesting.

With a brisk runtime of 98 minutes, The Monkey is well-paced and flies by. Because of how quickly the movie progresses, it’s easy to see story beats and plot points that seem like discrepancies. However, they’re actually in better service to the greater themes of the story. Unlike other horror films dealing with similar tropes, The Monkey has no firm set of rules. There’s no real way to tell how it works, who it chooses to kill, and how they die. The senselessness of it all evokes plenty of genuine feelings and worries that come with death in real life, and therein lies the genius of Perkins’ movie.

Nico Aguilar’s cinematography helps capture the striking imagery of the insane havoc that the toy monkey wreaks and sometimes surprises with kaleidoscopic images that further accentuate the exploitative ’70s film aesthetic that The Monkey is aiming for. Unlike the director’s previous work, Longlegs, which was self-serious and nihilistic while hiding the darkness of the characters, The Monkey chooses to put the world and all its horrors on display to the most extreme level possible and show its characters persevering through it all.

With The Monkey, it almost feels like Perkins has created a therapeutic (and gruesome) blend of horror and comedy to give audiences another option of what to do in the face of such dire times: have a good laugh. There are some things that will always be out of our control, and it’s up to us to decide how to move forward. Given that the director’s mother died as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, it’s not hard to see what real-life tragedies and unexplainable horrors impacted the making of this film, making it feel even more poignant. The Monkey is a masterfully crafted film by a top-tier horror director who draws on real-life tragedies and loss to inspire others with grief and anxiety to deal with their troubles with a smile. Everybody dies. And that’s life.

The Monkey hits theaters on February 21, 2025.