'The Monkey' is A Bananas Bloodbath [Review]

​Everybody dies. That’s life.
 
That’s also the prevalent theme of writer/director Osgood Perkins’ (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Longlegs) new film, The Monkey. Based on the Stephen King short story of the same name featured in his collection, Skeleton Crew, Perkins’ latest is unlike anything we’ve seen from the director before. A hysterical whirlwind of bloody chaos that prioritizes big laughs over big thoughts, you likely won’t find yourself dissecting the film like a mysterious corpse as his previous work may have inspired. This is Perkins at his most straight-forward, delivering a crowd-pleasing delight for us sickos who cackle like hyenas at ludicrous gore and oddball characters. As a reference at one point to R.L. Stine’s popular book series would suggest, think of it like Goosebumps for adults, a film that aims to make fear fun.
 
Ever since twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played Theo James) were kids, their family has been haunted by a terrible curse in the guise of a windup toy monkey armed with a set of drums and a sinister grin. When the key in the monkey’s back is turned, someone nearby dies in a manner most gruesome. They thought they had gotten rid of it. But twenty-five years later, the monkey appears again, and people start dying. Estranged from his brother and in the middle of his once-a-year visit with his son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), Hal must find the monkey and figure out a way to finally destroy it…lest it get to him first.
 
Opening on an Adam Scott cameo (as Hal and Bill’s father) in which he desperately tries to pawn the monkey off in a moment that, predictably, goes terribly wrong, The Monkey promises one thing from the get go; You, the audience, have just leapt down a gore-streaked slide through a world of mayhem, so hold on tight, because there’s no getting off this slippery slope into madness. And for those more familiar with Perkins’ work, the filmmaker also makes clear that The Monkey is not quite what we’ve come to expect from him. Narrated with a gravely exhaustion by James and packed to the brim with wild kills, this is Perkins’ take on Final Destination by way of Stephen King. It has that small town, “shit happens” attitude of a King story, full of unique and eccentric characters just trying to find their way through an existence that doesn’t always make sense. Whether it’s Hal’s mother, Lois (Tatiana Maslany), plainly telling her little boys that they’ll die one day, or a young priest (Nicco Del Rio) approaching the podium at a funeral with a shocked “fuck”, Perkins populates this story with people as exaggerated representations of the sort of cluelessness we approach death with.

Of course, Perkins is no stranger to comedy. Look no further than Longlegs to see the filmmaker has a dark sense of humor that tends to pop up like a manic gopher from time to time. The Monkey is Perkins’ morbidly funny side laid bare. For a film so full of death—more people die here than in all the filmmaker’s previous films combined—the intent is less to scare the audience and more to present a blasé posture that yep, we all die. No, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Like the note on the box that the twins first find the monkey in, “like life”, the events of the film don’t necessarily follow some grand, evil plan or have some complex purpose with a beating-heart answer at the center of it all. Who dies, when they die, how they die…it all just kind of happens, for the most part. It is for this reason that Perkins wants us to laugh in the face of death. Because in the grand scheme of things, laughing is all we can really do.
 
In that sense, The Monkey is the filmic expression of that maniacally grinning monkey, playing carnival music while he beats his drums silly. It’s pure, unadulterated madness. Perkins takes the audience on a descent into insanity where Hal dreams of giant monkey paws lifting him from bed or falling through twirling spirals of kaleidoscopic lights. The characters, the deaths…they all play to this bizarre tune. This is where some of you may find yourselves wanting Perkins to turn the damn music down, because, while the idea is that death is only natural, there is nothing natural about this film. Character motivations—especially towards the end—don’t always make sense. Most are downright head-scratching, in fact. Perkins pushes the audience to accept that constantly worrying about death or grasping futilely for control over the uncontrollable is, frankly, madness in and of itself. And while I appreciate the intent, the nonsense of it all can be a bit chaotic, leaving the film feeling as messy as the corpses left in the titular monkey’s wake.
 
With The Monkey, Perkins offers up his most entertaining yet thinnest film. Considering the director’s past work, it’s shockingly simple. Yet it may also be his most personal in its observation of father/son relationships and how the men who raised us shape our lives. No doubt, Perkins’ relationship with his own father, famed actor Anthony Perkins, plays a role here. So, while it isn’t nearly as provocative as the director’s other filmic puzzles, that isn’t to say there’s not much going on here beneath the surface.
 
If you do decide to get on this peculiar ride, just remember, The Monkey is like life. A messed-up version of Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates where you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes scary. Sometimes funny. Strange and random and messy. But it can be a real joy when you just allow yourself to laugh a little.

The Monkey winds up in theaters on February 21st from Neon. 

By Matt Konopka