Movie Scene: Monkey see, monkey kill

Based on a Stephen King short story, ‘The Monkey’ is an absurdist horror-comedy directed by Oz Perkins of last years ‘Longlegs’ fame.

Fans of King’s original take, which leans much more into the horror elements as you’d expect, may come out a little disappointed here because Perkins strips back the horror, ramps up the campiness but does so with blood by the bucket load.

The film opens with a blood-soaked Adam Scott trying to rid himself of the titular primate, a children’s toy which plays the drums (in King’s original story it played the cymbals but copyright issues instigated the change).

One death later and we meet his twin boys (both played by Christian Convery) who find said monkey long after dear old dad has skipped out on the family, leaving them in the care of mum (Tatiana Maslany). Mysterious deaths begin to happen, including their mum’s, and the boys figure out the monkey is responsible and chuck it down the well. Years later, the estranged twins (now played by Theo James) are brought back together after the monkey resurfaces, seemingly seeking revenge.

If all this sounds absolutely ridiculous, it is. I think I was over-selling the ‘horror’ element to be fair because, although ‘The Monkey’ is very bloody, the kills are laugh-out-loud funny, with heads exploding, intestines being ripped out and people being comically impaled on mailbox posts; I certainly giggled more than once at the sheer insanity and absurdity of it all.

The first part of the film focuses on the twins as boys with their somewhat kooky mum and it does a good job detailing the reasons for their estrangement.

I found there to be some Beetlejuice vibes going on in the first part, particularly around scenes set in a graveyard during one of the (many) funerals.

Perkins then switches things up a notch, but not by much, with the film’s second part.

One twin, Bill is a quiet sort; he’s haunted by childhood events so keeps everyone at arm’s length, even his own estranged son Petey (Colin O’Brien) who is on the verge of being adopted by his mother’s mindfulness guru boyfriend (Elijah Wood).

Once Hal, who hates Bill, comes back, ‘The Monkey’ then reverts into a story of revenge, forgiveness and learning to accept that everybody dies in the end.

There’s nothing terribly deep about ‘The Monkey’. Perkins would rather focus on seeing how hilariously and gruesomely he can murder people, but it’s saved by a very good double performance by James and the aforementioned kills which won’t gross anyone out but which should provide a good aul laugh.

It’s fine but nothing to go ape over.