The Monkey
Directed by Osgood Perkins
- horror
- comedy
The story
When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
What it’s like
Bright, crisp daylight in small-town Maine gives way to fluorescent hallways and dim, dusty attics, with Perkins's static, symmetrical framing turning ordinary rooms into stages for absurd set pieces. The score leans on rhythmic drumming and an uneasy, mechanical pulse that follows the toy's wind-up ticking. The mood is deadpan and gleefully macabre: a family-drama undercurrent of grief and sibling resentment runs beneath escalating, cartoonish carnage. Pacing is brisk and punchy, with long stretches of dry, awkward humour cut sharply by sudden violence. The intensity is high. Gore is frequent, graphic and often played for laughs, including decapitations and bloody, inventive deaths, though the horror is more gross-out than dread. It suits a late-night watch with friends, or a viewer who enjoys splatter tempered by black comedy. It is not for anyone seeking gentle viewing or a quiet, atmospheric scare. The people at its centre are estranged twin brothers slowly forced back into each other's orbit.
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