Review by Flynn Boffo
In the latest film from Ozgood Perkins, death plays out as a series of untimely punchlines to the beat of a toy drum.
Twin brothers Bill and Hal discover their missing father’s toy monkey, what follows is an unusual trail of destruction as they slowly discover that every time the monkey wound up and beats its drum someone nearby has a horrific fatal accident. After losing their babysitter, mother, and uncle to the monkey’s drum the brothers throw the monkey down a well hoping to never see it again…
Now 25 years later the monkey has returned and an absent Bill has left a deadbeat Hal responsible and stops deaths before it is too late. The Monkey is more of a dark comedy for those disturbed enough to get the joke then it is horror. It is in this balance between tragedy and comedy where The Monkey really worked. Playing both Hal and Bill, Theo James delivers a fantastic deadpan performance. It is great to finally have movies that accept their own absurdity again without a need for 4th wall breaking quips.
Originally based on a Stephen King short story The Monkey definitely begins to drag around the third act where unfortunately creative kills are not enough to hide the feeling of a plot stretched a little thin. With that said The Monkey never promises to be anything more than a fun blood splattering spectacle and here it really excels with violent final destination-esque deaths.
Amongst these fantastical grand acts of god style fatalities is a personal truth for Perkins, who appears to be reflecting on the tragic deaths of his own famous parents. At the core of this film is an honest philosophy around the inevitable end.
“Everybody dies. Some of us peacefully and in our sleep, and some of us… horribly. And that’s life.”
Review by Flynn Boffo