Osgood Perkins crafted one of 2024’s very best films with his exceptional serial killer horror thriller “Longlegs”. It was a movie that was rightly met with positive reactions from audiences and critics. But it was good enough to deserve serious awards season consideration. Sadly, the film was mostly ignored by end of the year voting members from critics associations (including my own) to major award groups.

And just like that Perkins is back with his follow-up, “The Monkey”. This warped and twisted horror blend is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story. Perkins writes, directs, and takes countless liberties in his adaptation of King’s work. The most noticeable addition is the infusion of comedy into what is an otherwise a hyper-gory splatter film. Perkins keeps his tongue firmly lodged in his cheek as he has us chuckling one minute while spraying us with blood and guts the next.

Unfortunately his mix of horror and humor doesn’t quite gel the way he wants it to. The movie features several wild and spectacularly gory deaths that are sure to earn some audible gasps. And there are genuinely funny lines of dialogue scattered all throughout. But it’s the story that attempts to connect it all that underwhelms. Not only is it a mess, but it bungles the heavier themes it introduces. So we’re left with little more than gore and goofiness and both wear out their welcome over time.

Back in 1999, twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (Christian Convery) lived with their single mother, Lois (Tatiana Maslany). The boys weren’t especially close as the punk Bill relentless bullied and belittled his more timid brother Hal. Their lives are violently turned upside down after they discover a wind-up musical monkey in a closet among their absent father’s old things.

Now to the movie’s rules. Apparently whenever someone winds the key on the monkey’s back and it plays it drum someone is killed in a gruesomely outrageous manner. Why? We never know. Who or what is behind the monkey’s ‘power’? Your guess is as good as mine. The movie has no interest in answering such questions which naturally come from such a story.

The closest we get to answers are in the film’s abject cynicism. As one character states, “Everyone dies and that’s life” – no purpose, no point, no pattern. That may make for an interesting philosophical discussion, but it doesn’t automatically equal good cinema. In “The Monkey” it feels more like a cop-out than a thought-provoking statement on the absurdity of death. It gives Perkins a reason to splash the screen with viscera in a creative array of ways.

Some 25 years later, the estranged brothers (now played by Theo James) haven’t spoken in years. Hal lives in seclusion but has a son named Petey (Colin O’Brien). In one of the film’s most underdeveloped story threads, Hal goes to pick up Petey for their once-a-year visit. While there, he’s informed by his ex-wife (Laura Mennell) that her successful new husband (Elijah Wood in a rather silly cameo) is adopting Petey. It’s a wonky domestic angle that feels thrown together rather than thought out.

But of course the monkey finds its way back into their lives. Hal and Bill thought they were rid of it and each other when they threw it down a well as kids. But it returns with another string of grisly and graphic deaths. And it brings the estranged brothers back together in a way that’s more ridiculous than convincing. It all plays out in an outrageous final act that’s either care-free to the point of incoherence or smugly poking fun at genre fans and their willingness to consume anything as long as it’s coated in blood.

“The Monkey” continues a growing trend in modern horror. It’s yet another movie that goes all-in on gore while making no real attempt at being scary. In this case, far more effort is put into being funny. But too often the horror and the humor are working against each other. At times they click, leading to some pretty good comic payoffs. But those efforts are overshadowed by the tonal chaos, its lack of tension, and the half-baked story which almost feels like an afterthought.

VERDICT – 2 STARS