“Uh, extra blood, please.”
I can virtually hear Author-Director Osgood Perkins saying this on repeat throughout the filming of his newest enterprise, “The Monkey.” Tailored from a brief story by Stephen King, the elevator pitch is a straightforward one: there’s a wind-up, virtually demonic-looking chimp that, when activated, finds intelligent (and generally laughably foolish) methods to kill whoever it chooses—aside from the one who initiates the grotesque carnage.
It’s a pleasant change of tempo for Perkins, whose 2024 banger “Longlegs” was a colossal success however leaned extra into the vibe of “The Silence of the Lambs.” In distinction, “The Monkey” has extra in frequent with a “Ultimate Vacation spot” movie than your typical Stephen King adaptation. And that’s a praise—some parts of “Longlegs” left viewers feeling a bit chilly, however in “The Monkey,” it’s clear that Perkins doesn’t wish to take issues too severely. As a substitute, he drenches his victims in blood by the truckload. Whereas it will possibly generally be overly foolish and infrequently on the nostril, at its greatest, “The Monkey” channels the spirit of “Evil Lifeless,” with a touch of Peter Jackson’s 1992 splatterfest “Braindead.”
Proper from the opening sequence, we’re clued into the rollercoaster of demise and destruction that awaits us. Perkins brings the perspective with razor-sharp comedic wit, a uncommon trait in movies that deal with severe themes of grief, trauma, and demise—not to mention a Stephen King adaptation. Nobody is secure from the wrath of this toy simian, and Perkins wastes no time letting , with a gap sequence that reveals an harmless bystander’s insides coming… properly, out.
The story kicks off with an prolonged prologue set in 1999, the place we meet twin brothers Hal and Invoice Shelburn (each performed by Christian Convery). They stay with their nurturing mom (Tatiana Maslany, “She-Hulk”), who’s struggling to regain stability after their father left. Invoice takes enjoyment of tormenting Hal, usually blaming him for his or her father splitting on them. Invoice is the form of merciless, mean-spirited bully who will make you root for the monkey, which the boys discover deserted in a closet filled with their father’s trinkets.
As we shortly study, there are not any guidelines in relation to this toy’s actions, and life quickly turns into depressing for the boys because the toy primate begins doing what it does greatest—slaughtering folks, usually these near them. From there, the tone is about, and we leap forward 25 years, the place Hal (now performed by Theo James, “Divergent,” “The White Lotus”) is struggling to attach together with his estranged son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), whom he solely sees yearly on his birthday.
In the meantime, Invoice (additionally performed by James) has been on a lifelong quest to seek out the monkey, which has lately turned up within the small city of Casco, Maine. The toy is shortly changing into an issue, with studies of 1, two, generally 5 deaths a day. All the deaths are sometimes written off as freak accidents, and Perkins has no drawback exhibiting a hilarious montage of those incidents, a few of which embody a python assault on a golf course, a lawnmower, and demise by pool electrocution. One demise is described as “a cherry pie in a sleeping bag,” and, properly, the visuals affirm that. This film just isn’t for the squeamish.
Perkins and your complete ensemble—together with enjoyable supporting performances from Sarah Levy and Elijah Wooden—know precisely what sort of campy, gloriously over-the-top B-movie they’ve signed up for. Particularly James, who performs two distinct and oddly wacky characters who each can’t fairly grasp how this string of weird occasions got here to be. Anybody hoping for solutions concerning the monkey’s origins, its strategies of killing, or a deeply political message laced with social satire shall be disenchanted. Perkins, who tragically misplaced each of his dad and mom, isn’t fascinated by any of that. He’s simply right here to have enjoyable, and truthfully, that’s all you’ll be able to ask for.
THE MONKEY is now enjoying in theaters.