Toys are a representation of your childhood, and thus there have been movies that explored that idea. From family-friendly animation like Toy Story to adult-rated horror like Child’s Play, these are stories that have explored the good and bad memories of one’s childhood through sentient playthings. In the case of Osgood Perkins’ latest, The Monkey, it very much leans into the Chucky factor.
The monkey toy (or Jolly Chimp) is already scary from its devilish grin to its big, bulging eyes that look like they are staring into your soul; just look at the poster of the late George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines from 1988. Perkins’ new film is based on the 1980 short story by Stephen King, someone who is no stranger of turning inanimate objects into figures of horror.
The plot follows Hal and Bill Shelburn (both played by Christian Convery), twin brothers whose lives are turned upside down by a cursed toy monkey that causes random horrific deaths. When tragedy hits too close to home, the twins decide to throw the monkey down a nearby well, hoping it will remain hidden, only to re-emerge decades later and continues to haunt the adult Shelburns (Theo James).
Considering that the source material – which you can now read as part of the short story collection Skeleton Crew – was published six years before King’s epic novel It, The Monkey shares a number of narrative ideas, such as confronting the same horror, both as a child and as an adult. However, whereas the multiple adaptations of It from film and television have tried to adapt the various aspects of King’s novel to varying degrees of success – though we will never get that Cosmic Turtle – The Monkey seems to be doing a lot from how far you can stretch a single idea.
During its initial half, we see the twins’ childhood, where they are raised by their single mother Lois (played with such scene-stealing cynicism by Tatiana Maslany), while the meek Hal is constantly bullied by the cruel Bill. From the nastiness of certain children, to the often-comedic lack of misunderstanding from adults, it is touching upon themes that you associate with King’s fiction, and from this section alone tells a complete story that establishes how deceitful the Monkey is when playing into our darkest desires.
When we reach the adult-centric second half, much like It: Chapter Two, things get messier, from how the rules of the Monkey work, to the number of characters that Perkins is juggling, including Elijah Wood who bafflingly shows up for one scene. There are two things that ultimately redeems the second half. One of which is the dual performances from Theo James, who has to play yin and yang with himself, whilst embracing the black sense of humor the film conveys.
The other element that shines throughout is Perkins himself, whose films touch upon a cursed family in some capacity. However, having psychologically creeped us out with last year’s Longlegs, Perkins shows a more gleeful side here by presenting characters who really don’t know any better, and then to be killed off spectacularly splatter fashion to could rival the unintentionally funny deaths from the Final Destination series.
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