We are back with another episode of the Fully Booked podcast, and as February drags on, we find ourselves waiting for the winter snow to melt, just like everyone else in Eastern Canada. To shake off the seasonal gloom, we decided to treat ourselves to a movie!
Luckily, our timing was perfect because February 21, 2025, marked the release of The Monkey, a film adaptation of a Stephen King short story, directed by Osgood Perkins. Given our love for horror, and with Perkins’ track record of unsettling films, we were eager to dive into this adaptation. So, we grabbed our tickets, watched the film, and now we’re here to break it down for you.
Note
The following is an editorialized transcript of our weekly literary podcast. If you would like to listen to the podcast, click the play button above orlisten on your favorite platform with the links below.
The Story Behind The Monkey
The movie is based on Stephen King’s short story, The Monkey, originally published in Gallery magazine in 1980 and later included in Skeleton Crew (1985), a collection that also contains The Mist – another King classic with multiple adaptations.
The story follows Hal Shelburne, a man who, since childhood, has been haunted by a cursed wind-up monkey toy. Someone dies every time the monkey claps its cymbals (or, in the movie’s case, beats a drum). As an adult, Hal’s past comes back to haunt him when the monkey is rediscovered, dragging his family into a cycle of death and destruction.
Though the adaptation stays true to the core concept, the film takes some liberties, including changes to the monkey’s mechanics and added layers of dark comedy. The Monkey currently has a 6.5/10 on IMDb, a 79% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 60% audience score. We personally think the audience is wrong – this movie is better than that.
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A Darkly Comedic and Campy Horror Experience
One of the most striking aspects of The Monkey is its unexpected tone. It is absolutely a horror movie, but it also leans into an absurd, almost slapstick, dark comedy style that took us by surprise. We laughed – a lot.
The film is directed by Osgood Perkins, who comes from a long line of cinematic and artistic figures. His father, Anthony Perkins, famously played Norman Bates in Psycho, and his mother, Berry Berenson, was a photographer, actress, and model. His grandfather was a silent film actor, and his maternal grandmother was Elsa Schiaparelli, a legendary fashion designer. With this rich lineage, it’s no wonder Perkins has carved out a unique space in horror filmmaking.
Perkins has directed eerie and atmospheric films like The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, but The Monkey is a departure from his usual style. It leans into camp, exaggeration, and grotesque humor.
While some horror fans might find the film’s comedic undertones off-putting, we found them incredibly entertaining. There’s a certain madcap energy to the way events unfold – especially in the film’s death scenes – that makes it feel like a Final Destination movie, but funnier and more stylized.
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Subscribe to our weekly newsletterThe Plot: A Family Cursed by a Sinister Toy
The movie follows Hal Shelburne and his twin brother, Bill, from childhood into adulthood. As kids, they stumble upon their father’s old belongings and find the wind-up monkey. When they activate it, strange and horrifying deaths follow.
The film opens with a chilling cold open – one of the best we’ve seen in a while – where their father, played by Adam Scott, tries to get rid of the monkey in a pawn shop, only for a brutal series of events to unfold, leading to his own gruesome death. The family, unaware of what really happened, believes he simply abandoned them.
As the story unfolds, we see how the curse haunts both brothers in different ways. Hal isolates himself, fearing that anyone close to him is in danger, while Bill grows more obsessed, believing he can control the monkey’s power. As adults, they each react to their trauma differently, showing how past events shape people in unexpected ways.
One of the film’s central themes is the illusion of control over fate and death. Both brothers, at different times, believe they can direct the monkey’s killings, but ultimately, they cannot. Death is random, and any attempt to manipulate it only leads to destruction.
The Kills: A Mix of Horror and Ridiculous Gore
If you’re a horror fan who enjoys creative and over-the-top death scenes, The Monkey delivers in spades. The deaths in this movie are insane, brutal, and weirdly comedic.
For example:
- A woman jumps into a pool only to explode into pieces the moment she touches the water due to an electrical surge.
- A man shoots a wasp nest, and every wasp flies directly into his mouth, suffocating him.
- Another victim is trampled to death by horses while trapped inside a sleeping bag, and when they unzip it, all that’s left is slush.
These deaths don’t just shock – they make you laugh at their absurdity. Even the director, Osgood Perkins, mentioned in an interview that audiences laughed so much at the kills that they missed the actual jokes that followed. That’s how outrageous some of these moments are.
While the film has plenty of gore, it doesn’t dwell on it. Each kill happens quickly and unexpectedly, without excessive lingering on the aftermath. This pacing keeps the film moving at a fast clip, making it an incredibly entertaining watch.
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Performances and Final Thoughts
We have to give credit to Theo James, who plays both Hal and Bill, delivering two distinct performances that make each brother feel like a separate person. Elijah Wood has a hilarious cameo as a stepfather, bringing his usual quirky charm to the role. Even the child actors playing young Hal and Bill are excellent, carrying much of the film’s early tension.
There’s also an interesting discussion to be had about how trauma shapes people differently, and the film explores the inescapable pull of family ties, no matter how much you try to separate yourself from the past.
While The Monkey is undeniably fun and entertaining, it also carries deeper themes of fate, death, and the inability to control life’s chaos. The story makes us wonder: If we had the monkey, would we turn the key? Our answer? Absolutely not.
This film is one of the most enjoyable horror-comedies we’ve seen in a while. Whether you’re watching it for the bizarre kills, the dark humor, or the unsettling themes, The Monkey is a wild ride that horror fans shouldn’t miss. We’ll definitely be grabbing the Blu-ray to revisit all the behind-the-scenes details.
That concludes our in-depth summary of The Monkey. We’re heading into March with a new theme, and while we can’t reveal too much yet, let’s just say it’s going to be a little dark and a little twisted. Stay tuned for more!
