Horror Movie Review: The Monkey (2025)

Arriving with some hype, mainly because it is written and directed by Osgood Perkins (2024’s Longlegs), The Monkey isn’t a great film, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things to enjoy about it.

A blend of black comedy and horror, The Monkey is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story and stars Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, and Elijah Wood. It also tells a very simply story. One based around a cursed item, a toy money that, when wound up, plays its drums.

However, it’s what happens when the final drum is hit that matters as it always ends up with someone dying in violent, but accidental, fashion. Who dies, and how they are chosen, doesn’t seem to make any sense, and anyone who has ever tried to control it, has failed.

This cursed monkey toy ends up in the hands of identical twin brothers, Hal and Bill Shelburn, who find it amongst their father’s belongings. A father who disappeared long ago. Intrigued, they wind it up and later, at a hibachi restaurant, their babysitter gets decapitated. The first in a long line of deaths that will tear the brothers apart sending them on two very different paths. Where, as adults, they have very different views of the monkey toy. Hal knows it is evil and is so scared that it will target his loved ones, he has spent his life destroying all relationships around him, including one with his teenage son. Whereas Bill will do anything to get his hands on the toy, believing he can control it, if he just gets the right person to wind it up.

Along the way to their eventual reunion, a lot of mad, and fun stuff occurs.

That’s the film in a nutshell, even if there is a decent attempt to flesh out the story and make the character matter more. Alas, nobody will remember The Monkey for that, because it’s the part of the film that is mostly lacklustre. Especially when it switches to Hal and Bill being adults, even if Theo James’ dual role as the brothers is fun.

The biggest problem with everything outside of the horror is how forced it all feels. Hal’s failing relationship with his son is a prominent part of the film’s story, but it never feels like it has any weight. Both actors (Colin O’Brien plays Petey) are good, but they don’t quite have the chemistry. They never come across as a believable father and son, and that means any emotional weight that could come from their eventual understanding of each other and obvious reconnection, isn’t there.

Who is watching The Monkey for story though, right? Especially one as messy as this? All anyone cares about is the gore and violence, especially as it comes from a tongue in cheek place, right?

Look, The Monkey has some fun deaths, and I was very entertained by the sight of a person being disembowelled by a harpoon, a person impaling themselves on a ‘for sale’ sign while their head is on fire, and a person being stung to death… from the inside. That being said, there’s nothing that extreme here and the ‘accidental’ part does start to reflect the later entries in the Final Destination franchise. Dodgy effects here and there too. What makes The Monkey’s death scenes more enjoyable is the way they come with a big thumbs up and a goofy grin. Everyone knows this is silly, and everyone is playing up to that.

That certainly makes it more digestible, except surely we’re not all here for a conveyer belt of violent deaths, even if they are fun? Surely a good story and good characters is desirable too. Which isn’t to say that The Monkey doesn’t have a good story or good characters, they’re just not as good as I, and possibly others, would have liked.

I liked The Monkey. I was entertained. I didn’t love it, and I suspect that I will forget most of it within the next couple of months.