The Monkey - movie review

The Monkey delivers supernatural chaos and Stephen King horror, making for a thrilling, fast-paced watch.

Just when you think every Stephen King story has been adapted, reworked, and exhausted, a toy monkey in the closet reminds you there’s still room for one more nightmare. Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey takes King’s unforgettable short story and expands it into a full-blown supernatural thriller, turning a simple cursed object into an apocalyptic harbinger of destruction.

For those unfamiliar, The Monkey was part of King’s Skeleton Crew collection, alongside The Mist and Uncle Otto’s Truck, and while it’s been decades since I first read it as a pre-teen, it remains one of the stories that never left my mind. Objects have always played a powerful role in King’s mythology, but few hold the same ominous weight as this toy monkey with a deadly drumbeat.

The film follows twin brothers Hal and Bill, played by Theo James, who inherit a seemingly harmless antique monkey toy from their father. But as soon as the monkey starts drumming, death follows, setting off a Final Destination-style chain of calamities. Perkins leans into King’s signature themes of fate, inevitability, and objects imbued with sinister power, crafting a film that feels both rooted in classic horror lore and uniquely his own.

While James delivers a solid dual performance, some of the film’s emotional beats feel slightly disconnected, particularly in scenes between James and Colin O’Brien, who plays his son, Petey. Their dynamic, which should carry more familial weight, occasionally feels like they’re acting in separate rooms, a minor flaw that echoes a similar criticism in some of Perkins’ previous films. However, Perkins’ portrayal of the twins’ mysterious Uncle is a standout element, adding another eerie layer to the film.

Ultimately, The Monkey is pure popcorn horror, and that’s exactly what it needs to be. It embraces its pulpy, chaotic nature, delivering a fast-paced thrill ride that feels like a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. At a lean runtime, it doesn’t try to overextend a story that could have easily wrapped in 15 minutes, and that restraint works in its favor. This isn’t reinventing the wheel, but it’s a wild, entertaining horror flick that fans will want to revisit for the sheer destructive madness.

Rating: 3/5

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Starring Theo James, Colin O'Brien, Elijah Wood, Osgood Perkins and Sarah Levy.