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The Monkey

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The Monkey

Name: The Monkey
Director: Osgood Perkins
Genre: Horror
Released: 2025
Duration: 1 h 37 min
Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Adam Scott

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Horror

2025
Osgood Perkins
97 mins
15

Summary

Comedy horror based on a Stephen King story, starring Theo James. In 1999, twin brothers Hal and Bill discover a wind-up toy monkey in their dead father's possessions. When their babysitter is violently killed in a seeming accident, the boys believe the toy is responsible and throw it in a well. Twenty-five years later, Hal's wife dies under horrific circumstances, and he begins to suspect that the monkey is back to wreak more havoc on his life.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Patrick Cremona

Writer/director Osgood Perkins follows up his breakout hit Longlegs with another horror film - albeit one operating in a very different mode. Adapted from Stephen King's short story of the same name, The Monkey follows mismatched twin brothers Hal and Bill (played in dual roles by Christian Convery as children and Theo James as adults) after the discovery of a cursed wind-up monkey among their father's old junk. When the toy suddenly resurfaces 25 years later, a series of increasingly gruesome deaths provokes the now estranged brothers to re-establish contact. Perkins displayed a great command of atmosphere in his previous film, but the tone here is far more jumbled, never finding the right balance between its hit-and-miss comedic elements and the more overt horror. It does raise some interesting points about the random, chaotic nature of death, while the elaborate kill scenes are carried out with gleeful invention. But there's not enough substance to sustain a feature,especially as the narrative becomes increasingly wayward in its second half. Meanwhile, in his dual role, James turns in half a good performance; impressive as the disillusioned Hal but failing to convince as the more deranged Bill.

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5.9/10

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Cast

rolenameHal / BillTheo JamesLoisTatiana MaslanyTedElijah WoodYoung Hal / BillChristian ConveryCaptain Petey ShelburnAdam ScottPetey's momLaura MennellUncle ChipOsgood Perkins