The Monkey (2025) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pGDA9To3AA

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Sometimes, a lot of work has to be done to put the past behind you.


PLOT


Based on the 1980 Stephen King short story, 2025’s The Monkey begins in 1999 and shows Captain Pete Shelburn (Adam Scott) trying to to get rid of a wind up toy monkey at an antique shop as he claims it to be cursed. It is proven so when it winds up to play its drums and cause a chain reaction that gets the shop owner killed via harpoon gun. His decision to disappear leaves his wife Lois to raise their twin sons Hal & Bill. The twins soon find the monkey with their father’s belongings and discovers what it’s capable of after they wind it and watch it kill their babysitter at a hibachi restaurant. When Hal gets tired of being bullied by Bill at school, he winds the monkey hoping to get him killed, but finds out the hard way it doesn’t work like that as it instead causes their mom to die of an aneurysm. The boys do try disposing of the toy before moving in with their Aunt Ida & Uncle Chip Zimmer, but it follows them and Bill winds it again, it causes Chip to be trampled in a horse stampede. He and Hal then dump it in a well hoping for it to remain hidden. 25 years later, Hal has remained so paranoid of what happened in his childhood that it strained his marriage with his wife who remarried and wants full custody of their son Petey to cut him out completely. With Ida (Sarah Levy) dying of a freak accident, Bill contacts Hal that the monkey may have resurfaced. The latter certainly believes it when seeing a woman explode in an electrified pool. He takes Petey with him to pick it up, but doesn’t tell him the reason why they’re going to Ida’s. The real estate agent Barbara (Tess Degenstein) would tell him freak accidents have been occurring following Ida’s death and she ends up being the next victim when a shotgun falls out of a closet and shoots her down. Hal soon finds out Bill lives in the area and sent a guy named Ricky to retrieve it for him. Bill has known all these years Hal tried to use the monkey on him that caused their mom’s death and has been continuously turning the key hoping to kill him in return, but remains disappointed it keeps killing random people instead. Hal does plead with Bill to stop for the sake of his son’s safety, but he considers having Petey turn the key for him hoping to get what he wants; If he doesn’t, he’ll keep turning the key himself knowing more people will die instead of his brother. Ricky however gets obsessed with the monkey and forces Petey to get it for him. When he enter Bill’s house and turns the key, it instead summons a swarm of wasps after Ricky. Hal enters the house to save his son and when Bill gets all the more infuriated of his brother continuing to live, he tries forcing the monkey to drum without winding. Instead, the toy retaliates and drums uncontrollably that causes widespread death & destruction throughout the town. This is what causes Bill to give up and reconcile with Hal but just when they do, the monkey beats its drum one last time and causes a bowling ball to crush his head. As Hal & drive through the now devastated town accepting their responsibility to prevent the toy ever being winded again, the film ends with the former suggesting with his son to go dancing, something his mom loved doing.


THOUGHTS


I became a fan to Osgood Perkins’ filmography as a director the moment he took the world by storm with Longlegs, and then got seated as soon as it came to theaters. Needless to say, it’s the right amount of mayhem you want in any kind of horror film. This one is more of a dark comedy instead of psychological, which feels refreshing on both spectrums since we mostly see it kept straight in the genre. You just know it’s out of pocket with Os being unfiltered as Uncle Chip and a young priest casually cursing during a funeral before seeing Elijah Wood be over the top as Petey’s stepdad. Hell, it’s a bit chaotic to see Rohan Campbell’s Ricky have random daddy issues that get triggered by seeing the monkey that looks nothing like his dad, which make his decisions feel more pointless than what we see from Bill. The combined practical and visual effects that occur for each Rude Goldberg style death on par to Final Destination is so insane I was shouting ‘What the fuck’ each scene. The gore is basically for laughs because you’re not gonna be having a straight face seeing a lady get impaled by a post fence after getting caught on fire. And when the back to back deaths go down in the climax, there’s no way you can anticipate the payoff no matter how much foreshadow was at hand. Hell, I’m still stunned Bill died with the same bowling ball left by their dad that not only had his mom’s name on it, but was the exact weapon Hall envisioned using on him before the monkey became part of their lives for worse. You’re just not ready at any time whenever that damn monkey beats them drums. And when seeing each one unfold, they all bring the story full circle on how death is always inevitable as it’s a random part of life that is so awful that you got to accept it rather than let the resentment & fear of it consume you. If you get caught up with that, then you’re not gonna enjoy what’s left of your life. Os gave great relation to the feeling as shown when he lost his parents and this is the dilemma when following the Shelburn twins who had no idea how to cope with all their loss. From the portrayals of young Christian Convery to adult Theo James, Hal & Bill are different sides of the coin in how they let grief consumed them significantly. Hal is constantly afraid that he allowed it to affect his marriage and his parenting that it takes the return of the past to do better, whereas Bill is so full of anger that even if the feeling is validated, he still let it consume his life most since he never left town. The fact that he kept trying and trying to manipulate & orchestrate his revenge only proved life doesn’t work that way and the denial was exponentially high until he let it all go. In Hal’s case though, it did seem that he tried early on to be there for Petey, but couldn’t keep it up because he was afraid of failing to protect him from anything apart from the monkey. Had he tried living in the now much sooner, maybe Bill would’ve not kept hating him the way he did. Colin O’Brien does a great job sitting in the emotion with Hames as Petey because he’s just full of confusion and actually wants to understand his dad before it’s too late for them. He may be annoyed of his secrecy like any other kid would in his shoes, but at least he gets it and is willing to be on the same page moving forward. Last but not least, I got to give a shoutout to Tatiana Maslany who was the main reason I gave this movie a chance. From the get go, it’s easy to love her as Lois because after all the disappointment that came her way not knowing why her husband left, she becomes the first person to give the boys that self awareness that everyone dies at some point. Had she not given this advice in her given time, they likely would’ve not forgiven each other as adults. While her death is most heartbreaking since this is what drives the twins apart, it still sucks when Bill dies too because he was finally ready to live his life when forgiving his brother. Whatever happens now, it’s a certainty Hal & Petey will try as hard as possible to minimize the cruelty that comes from an incarnation of Satan itself. This movie definitely works best when letting loose on itself, but there are a few things that have confused me when looking back. Like from the top, how did one of the school bullies notice Hal with the monkey when it was dark during a video presentation? I really doubt Bill told her as she casually looked for something to mock him for. Also I do get that Hal is out of touch which is why he is willing to take Petey to the theme park Horror Heaven, but at the same time, he could’ve taken him somewhere way more family friendly instead of something that reminds him of his childhood trauma. And if nothing has happened involving the monkey for 25 years, he doesn’t need to lie to him about having a brother. I then think it’s a waste of tape if Ida’s death was confirmed an accident. And you know what, I refuse to believe Casco, Maine is big enough to have a large phone book. Neither twin knew much people over the years as they kept to themselves, so I can’t buy the area is that big. If I can ask anything about the monkey’s abilities, why did it wait 25 years to resurface? If it knows someone like Bill would be reckless enough to wind it up, it should’ve went to him as soon as it escaped the well. And if it’s gonna do that, there’s no reason to leave the key behind either. Plus I refuse to believe Ricky saw that wasp from afar and in the backseat of the car when his hair was covering his fucking eyes. If you’re able to ignore these flaws however, then you can still say The Monkey is the right amount of bonkers you want out of any horror flick or Stephen King adaptation you expect. If that is what you’re into, then I’m sure you’re in for quite a ride.