By Seth Lukas Hynes
The Monkey
Starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany and Colin O’Brien
MA15+
4.25/5
Based on a short story by Stephen King, The Monkey is a frightening, frequently funny and finely-crafted horror-comedy.
Twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (both played by Theo James) contend with a cursed monkey toy that causes death and disaster around them.
James plays Hal as a kind, reserved man doing his best both as an estranged father and against a paranormal threat, but is also dementedly fun as Hal’s fanatical jerk brother Bill.
The Monkey is much sillier by design than writer-director Osgood Perkins’ prior film Longlegs, but the first act manages plenty of pathos even through the wacky heightened reality, exemplified by Tatiana Maslany as the twins’ morbid but warm mother Lois.
The grisly deaths are laughably absurd in a good way (though a couple are a little too over-the-top), and Perkins remains a master of steady, white-knuckle build-up.
Through the brothers’ fraught relationship and Bill’s bitterness, the monkey toy serves as an effective metaphor for generational trauma and how we should come to terms with it and not hide from it or let it fester.
The one weak link is Colin O’Brien as Hal’s son Petey; while O’Brien gives a solid performance and their connection is purposefully written as distant, it just doesn’t give much for the viewer to latch onto.
I also can’t help but feel a sense of Chekhov’s Gun disappointment from Elijah Wood’s cameo as Ted; the film introduces a smarmy guru character who you’d want the monkey to kill, but Ted survives by the end.
As long as you like a strong dose of silly in your horror, The Monkey is a tense, well-acted watch full of dread and laughs, and is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
