DIRECTOR
Osgood Perkins
Longlegs

STARS
Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery and Colin O’Brien

The Monkey’s logline reads ‘Everybody dies. And that’s messed up’. Well, that’s the PG version. There are others that can easily be found.

Ironically, so does this movie.

Based on a 1980 short story by master horror novelist Stephen King, identical twin brothers Bill and Hal (played by Christian Convery) discover a toy monkey with a key that is activated upon its turning. Unbeknown to them, the monkey is pure evil and the reason their father has abandoned them and their Mum, Lois (Tatiana Maslany). After its key has been wound, the monkey performs a little bit of drumming, and then… somebody meets their gruesome demise. This all begins in 1999. When the film jumps ahead by 25 years to present day, Bill and Hal (now played by Theo James) are estranged but living in peace. Like all trusty serial killers though, the monkey does a Michael Myers and returns with a renewed bloodthirsty appetite.

Before I go on to (constructively) criticise The Monkey, I must start by acknowledging its intent, which I feel it moderately succeeds at achieving. Clearly, right from the outset, The Monkey knows it is silly and is in no way to be taken seriously. It has one formula stuck on repeat from start to end: to provoke laughter from its audience courtesy of its shock factor, gruesomeness and occasional irreverent dialogue. This formula grows more extreme as the movie progresses. In a sense, The Monkey can be thought of as a movie amalgamation of Annabel and the Final Destination series. For a while, quite a while even, this formula is most satisfactory because the blend of those aforementioned components is close enough to just right. That is until its one-dimensional screenplay begins to expose it, leading The Monkey to quickly become stale, repetitive and just downright silly. 

While what it has to offer may be enough for many people, there were options galore for this comedic horror film to incorporate as a sub-plot to give it more dimension and depth in genre. For instance, surely the authorities who attend the crime scene of each killing are keen to find the mysterious culprit! There are also some details it might have benefitted from sharing something about, such as why the 25 year hiatus or how the monkey came to possess such malevolent capabilities in the first place. Furthermore, as its desperation to pull the funny bone is evident towards the end, I felt The Monkey could and should have simultaneously worked its creepy angle much more than it does. 

In the end, what was a good enough watch for an hour or so went so off the rails thereafter, I just can’t award this movie more than the 2 out of 5 stars given below. That sucks. 

The Monkey is showing in cinemas across Australia from February 20th.

Moviedoc thanks Roadshow Films for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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