Have you ever had that one childhood toy that gave you nightmares? How about a wind-up monkey that plays the drums rhythmically.
A 90-minute film inspired by King’s short story, “The Monkey,” released on Feb. 21 starring Theo James, explores the horrors of a cursed toy monkey that goes on a killing spree once he finishes playing his drums.
What started off as a wholesome gift quickly turned into freak tragedies. A father wanted to give his twin sons a wind-up toy monkey only to find out that monkey was the “devil.” Each time you’d turn the key on its back and it started playing the drums somebody would die.
These twin brothers, Hal and Bill didn’t like each other very much growing up and it got to a point where Hal wanted to use the monkey against Bill which sparked a chain of tragic deaths. The brothers decided to get rid of the monkey but 25 years later it made its way back.
This specific monkey has always given me the creeps and this film managed to make the feeling stronger. It felt like every time the monkey appeared on the screen its eyes would follow mine.
While this film features lots of bloody and gorey content it also provided a great humorous dialogue. I suppose the whole concept of this film was to combine the two which I believe was nicely executed.
Given the R rating, the crude humor brought light to the disturbing death scenes or as they were described in the film, “freak accidents.” The other aspect that was portrayed nicely was all the special effects used to depict these scenes such as decapitations or exploding body parts.
With 90-minute films there is always room for error especially with the story structure. Sometimes the story can feel rushed or there are missing details but that was not the case with this film. You get to clearly understand the perspectives of both brothers and how this monkey has taken over their lives. The story also touches on the real world concept of death, everybody dies and that’s life.
The combination of the sudden deaths and humor left me in shock throughout the entire film anticipating what was going to happen next. Upon initially watching the trailer, there was uncertainty about how the delivery would turn out.
The horror genre has been prevailing well within the last couple of years and seems to be proceeding. Rotten Tomatoes rated this film an 80%, a rating that seems fitting given the plot of a possessed monkey toy from the 1930’s.
Overall this movie is worth a watch for horror-movie fanatics and even those warming up to the concept of horror movies. This film is a great introduction to the genre because it is not overly frightening.
