Amuch as I did not enjoy The Monkey, one thing I’ll give director Osgood Perkins credit for is his ability to flit between different styles of horror. His gripping film Longlegs from last summer successfully leaned into its serial-killer, police-procedural story beats and fable-like emotional core, but The Monkey couldn’t be more different. It’s a dark, dark comedy which takes a Stephen King short story and amps up its Final Destination vibes to eleven. Death is the joke here, and while I did laugh at times, the general vibe of the film curdles by the end, resulting in a final product that feels far too mean-spirited for my liking.
My reaction to the film is certainly partially due to sheer personal taste, but I also think it would objectively be to the film’s benefit if certain elements were toned down. For example, every time Petey’s (Colin O’Brien) estranged father Hal (Theo James) tries to protect or connect with his son, the attempt is met with a “screw you.” The ways in which everyone in the film basically hates each other (for comedic effect) heighten the tone past any sort of believability. Perhaps believability isn’t the point here; of course I understand that this is a farce about a drumming toy monkey which seemingly has the power to decide who lives and who dies. I just wish the film had anything recognizably human in it, especially when it comes to its feeble attempts to establish human connections which might elevate it above that farcical level.
No matter how heightened and unrealistic, I think it’s impossible for me to not feel bad for a kid in this kind of situation, where so much death is happening all around him. Young Hal and his bullying twin Bill (both played by Christian Convery) discover the monkey toy from among their late father’s belongings. Every time they wind it up and it plays its circus music and bangs its drum, someone close to them dies in a horrific accident. Some of these kills are executed fantastically, especially one in the film’s cold open which introduces us to the monkey’s powers. However, I felt so much for Hal in all of his grief and loss that, regardless of the film’s admittedly humorous timing and tone, I just felt sad rather than crudely entertained. The film borders on Beau is Afraid’s levels of sadism in terms of torturing its main character, and although it’s nowhere near as long as Beau, its relentless misery becomes just as boring.
As I alluded to, there are times when The Monkey did make me laugh out loud, especially on the margins, where it almost becomes a parody of the type of horror film it is. I won’t give away the joke, but the way people eventually kind of root for death is very funny in a gonzo sort of way. It reminded me of Cold Pursuit’s sly parody of stereotypical action movies. But, like an out-of-tune drum, a few loud noises don’t make up for a dissonant tone. | George Napper
