In case you missed it in previous movie review columns – I’ll watch any movie tied to Stephen King’s works.
And honestly, I’m not let down with that self-imposed rule.
However, “The Monkey” is a weird mix of comedy and horror that feels disjointed and miles away from anything remotely related to King.
The movie starts out slow with all of the creepiness I’ve come to expect in King’s realms, but the second half is a slapdash of too many desperate punch lines and gory deaths.
In fact, I think it’s more like a distant cousin of other comedy horror flicks like “Evil Dead 2 (1987), “Army of Darkness” (1993), and “Zombieland” (2009).
Monkey is an American comedy horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins.
Based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story, the film stars Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Danica Dreyer, Sarah Levy, Osgood Perkins, and Elijah Wood.
The film is 98 minutes long and rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout, and some sexual references.
In 1999, Petey Shelburn (Scott) attempts to return and destroy a drum-playing toy monkey at an antiques shop.
Before he can do so, the monkey plays its drums to the tune of “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside” and starts a chain reaction that causes the shop owner to be disemboweled with a harpoon gun.
Shortly afterward, Petey disappears, leaving his wife Lois (Maslany) to raise their identical twin sons Hal and Bill (James).
The twins eventually discover the monkey in a closet containing their father’s belongings and wind its key.
Later that evening, the monkey plays its drums while they are at a hibachi restaurant, triggering their babysitter Annie’s (Dreyer) accidental decapitation.
Bill’s bullying of Hal prompts the latter to wind the monkey’s key again, hoping it will kill his brother.
Instead, Lois suffers a sudden aneurysm and dies in front of Bill.
Overcome with guilt, Hal dismantles and disposes of the monkey before he and Bill move to Maine to live with their aunt Ida (Levy) and uncle Chip (Perkins).
When the monkey mysteriously reappears at their new home, Bill realizes its power and winds its key despite Hal’s protests; Chip ends up trampled to death by a horse stampede shortly after.
The twins seal the monkey in its box and throw it down a nearby well, hoping it will remain hidden.
Twenty-five years later, Hal is estranged from both Bill and his own son, Petey (O’Brien), whom Hal sees only once a year out of fear that the monkey will return and kill him.
He also learns that his ex-wife and her new husband Ted (Wood) plan to adopt Petey fully, effectively cutting him out of Hal’s life.
Meanwhile, Ida is suddenly killed in a freak accident.
Bill calls Hal and insists he drives to Ida’s house, claiming he is suspicious that the monkey has returned and someone has been winding its key.
Hal realizes it is true when a woman explodes after a motel pool is electrified.
The deaths only get stranger and bloodier from that point onward – not to mention how strange family dynamics continue to play out.
Overall, unless you’re a die-hard Stephen King fan I don’t think you’re going to enjoy much of this film.
Of course, I found the ending the most rewarding part of this whole movie and that’s only because it was finally over.
Otherwise, just skip it until it comes to a streaming service.
