The Monkey
Review: Here’s what I texted my friend Edmund about this movie: ‘that film was so wacky, but kinda good tbh.’ And that really sums it up well. This movie IS NOT for everyone. It’s a horror comedy, with a very specific brand of comedy that may not appeal to everyone. It was also pretty brutal, though most of the brutality was so outlandish that it wasn’t too hard to watch. A lot of the brutal kills reminded me of those Allstate ‘Mayhem’ commercials except if they were rated R. I’d say avoid this if you’re squeamish or have a weak stomach. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a Stephen King-based film from filmmaker Osgood Perkins, about a family who inherits a real creepy looking toy monkey & strange deaths begin to occur around them. Fun fact, they had to have classic looking toy monkey hold a drum instead of the more familiar cymbals because Disney has a trademark on the cymbal version due to it appearing in ‘Toy Story 3.’ All I’ll say is that, once again, this movie isn’t for a wider audience, but a specific group. I didn’t necessarily think I’d fall into that group (I’m not a horror guy), but I quite enjoyed it.
High: I saw this film back to back with ‘Mickey 17’ and was kind of stunned at how both Robert Pattinson in that film & Theo James in this one managed to pull off playing a dual role so effectively. James creates two incredibly different characters that speak different, look different, act different, have different body language, & he does it very well. Christian Convery, who plays young Hal & Bill, also manages to pull this off really well.
Low: SPOILERS There was one shot at the end that through me off a bit & felt a little out of place. Granted, I haven’t read the source material so it may be accurate, I have no idea. But it was a shot of the personification of death riding a horse as the central town burned down around him. Now the film was by no means grounded up to this point, but it just brought more questions than answers for me. Though I am aware that may have been the point.
Rating: 7.5/10
