The Monkey Review – Stephen King Adaptation In Rare Register

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

There have been a ton of Stephen King adaptations in the last 50 years. Osgood Perkins, son of Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins, and director of the unnerving 2024 horror film Longlegs takes a stab at adapting King with The Monkey, which is based on a short story by the master of horror. It’s a unique and unexpected result that is (mostly) positive.

Set mostly in King’s (and my) home state of Maine, the film stars Theo James as brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn, twins only in appearance because their personalities could not be more different. Bill is a bully, and Hal is extremely introverted. Early parts of the movie occur during their early teen years when they (Christian Convery, also in a dual role) discover a wind-up toy monkey that unleashes death whenever it plays its drum. After a rash of deaths, they think they’ve disposed of the monkey for good, but the monkey re-enters the lives of these estranged brothers when they are adults, and someone is turning the key again.

As different as Hal’s personality is from Bill’s, so too is The Monkey tonally different from Longlegs in the types of horror it is. Longlegs was a supernatural thriller, whereas The Monkey is much more of a horror comedy, embracing a level of comedy in the creative ways that characters die that is definitely not the norm for most Stephen King stories. 

Perkins leans into the campiness to find creative ways for characters to meet a grisly end. Right from the opening scene, which takes place in a pawn shop, the first death sets the tone for the rest of the movie, telling you early that this will be a gonzo ride. Disembowelment, decapitation, death by lawnmower, electrocution, and more are all on the table here. It is hard to find new and inventive ways for characters to die on screen these days; some of these are more creative than others, while some feel like they’re trying a bit too hard to get a reaction from the viewer.

The titular monkey comes in a box with an inscription that reads “Like life” and a note that says, “Turn the key and see what happens.” While the deaths are over the top, they are, much like life, seemingly capricious and arbitrary. The victim of the death that The Monkey unleashes cannot truly be controlled or directed. 

At one point, Hal and Bill’s mom, portrayed by Tatiana Maslany, explains to her boys, “Everybody dies. Some of us peacefully and in our sleep, and some of us... horribly. And that's life.” It’s delivered in a glib, frank, deadpan manner, meant to elicit a dark laugh, and it’s earned, but it’s also true that death is part of life and something that humans wrestle with, fight against and try to make sense of. But we cannot control it despite our best efforts, like The Monkey. 

Maslany is among many surprising names in this film's small supporting roles. Adam Scott opens the film as Bill and Hal’s father, attempting to return The Monkey to the store he bought it. Elijah Wood is the stepfather of Hal’s son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), who is looking to adopt Petey and push Hal out of Petey’s life completely. Sarah Levy (Twyla on Schitt’s Creek) and Perkins himself appear as Hal and Bill’s swinging aunt and uncle. 

As a Mainer, I was curious about the filming locations for this film because some of the exterior scenes looked like they really could have been filmed somewhere in Maine, while others most definitely did not look like that. Turns out that the film was shot in Vancouver. Most of the movie takes place in Casco, ME, which is a small, rural town that does not have anywhere near the nightlife that the film portrays. The movie also has an odd sense of time, with scenes taking place in 1999 with people sporting clothes and hairstyles more suited for the late 70s or early 80s (particularly Osgood, who looks like Will Ferrell as Jeffrey’s Supervisor in an SNL sketch but with muttonchops). 

Theo James is the main lead of the movie, getting the dual role of the adult twin brothers. The film isn’t exactly going for subtly, so he plays up Hal being the good one and Bill being the bad seed. His performance being over the top at times is of a piece with the overall tenor of the film, leaning into the campiness with Bill’s over-the-top dickishness. Hal’s attempt to connect with Petey, who he has been afraid to get too close to because of The Monkey, is an example of parental fear of passing on generational trauma and attempting to break the cycle, so to speak.

Some people find the mingling of death and comedy too jarring to enjoy, and for those people, The Monkey is probably not for them. Fans of Stephen King may or may not love it because it looks like Osgood Perkins takes some serious liberties with the movie's tone, infusing a level of black comedy rarely found in a King adaptation. For people who like their horror leavened with a decent amount of humor and some deaths that may elicit a guffaw or two, The Monkey might be enjoyable.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars