“WHO’S SMILING NOW, YOU INFERNAL SON OF A WHOOOOOORE???” [God I love Adam Scott.]

Story: Twin boys, Bill and Hal, find out that their deadbeat dad has a closet full of “weird stuff” he picked up on his travels. Their mom says it’ll be theirs one day…but they can’t wait. So naturally, they pick a weird monkey toy to check out. They wind it up, and it works, kinda. But when their babysitter is brutally killed in a “tragic accident”, it’s the first of quite a few of those kinda things. Twenty-five years later, the boys still can’t seem to get past what happened when they were kids. Even though they got rid of the monkey, their lives are garbage. Wait; or did they get rid of that monkey? What’s that over there?

Scares: Just that creepy-ass monkey.
Splat Factor: Yep. Blood, gore, and insides outside.

Subgenre: Stephen King Shenanigans
Year Released: 2025
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Based on the Stephen King story of the same name.

Trick or Treat?: Osgood Perkins is a strange fish. And I mean that in the very best way. His filmography is filled with odd films that sit with you long after the end credits have rolled. And this one fits nicely between Longlegs, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, and Gretel & Hansel.

Monkey takes the basic premise of the King story, and adds sly humor to the mix, creating a story that takes it’s absurd premise, and goes bonkers with it. Casting seriously dramatic-looking Theo James as the adult twins plays well with the darkly humorous tale, and James knows exactly how far to push the straight-man persona. (Perkins does let Adam Scott off-leash for the splatteriffic opening scene, complete with harpoon gun, intestines, and a massive blowtorch. God bless Osgood Perkins.)

Christian Convery does an excellent job portraying the young twins, giving each character a personality and presence that’s easily distinguished from each other. The rest of the cast feels like window dressing, as Hal and Bill wrestle with their personal ghosts. Perkins loves getting into his characters heads, and we see how the twins could never move forward, or perhaps never wanted to.

The gory FX is borderline slapstick, with a shockingly hilarious presentation made all the more realistic thanks to James’ po-faced sincerity. Well, aside from one death; their mother’s passing is brutal, heartbreaking, and way too close to real life. It’s no wonder the boys were permanently scarred. A sincerely awful death makes this story’s more Rube Goldberg-esque kills pack more of a comedic punch. We saw horror. Now it’s time for unstoppable mayhem.

Perkins’ trademark je ne sais quoi is here in spades; there’s always something a wee bit off about what’s going on, as if things are slightly off-kilter, or not quite right. Nothing you can put your finger on, mind. But a sense of unease works it’s way through the story. So when things go absolutely off the rails at the climax, it’s almost a relief. A bonkers climax is something we can handle, we’ve seen this sort of thing before. In fact, the carnage is so over-the-top it’s comfortingly hilarious. But Monkey has one last trick up it’s sleeve, and leaves you with questions, answers, and the feeling that you may not have sussed out everything about this movie, but damn if you didn’t have a good time.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 pumpkins.