Zombos’ Says: Will probably increase sales of those ugly little noise bangers for scary pranks. Or cause many to be thrown out, just in case. That popcorn bucket looks pretty awesome for collectors, too. This cheeky absurd horror is not a monkey’s uncle.
Osgood Perkins creates nasty little cinema-goodies that match the mental image you get just saying his name. That’s a good thing. He has a cheeky knack for horomedy that makes the kills in Final Destination look amateurish. So while we watch with our mouths open in shock (and mirth!), The Monkey does something one better: it brings a sense of Greek Theater to the story of two brothers, doomed if they do and doomed if they don’t. With help from Stephen King, of course; but, creating the visuals and dramedy elements (yeah, turn that key if you hate these labels), with a tongue-in-cheek glee for terminal eviscerations, does take skill (or a Looney Tunes’ serial killer’s mindset). His pacing is just right; that really creepy large mechanical monkey is perfectly frightening and threatening with its arm raising, drumstick twirling, suspense moving to bloody turmoil panache that does have a rat-tat-tat, glad it’s not me getting skewered, chopped or minced, beat to it.
According to the press notes, Perkins pitched the story “as Gremlins meets a spice of Hereditary.” Single mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany) is left to raise her twin boys, Bill and Hal (played by Christian Convery) after her husband (Adam Scott) takes it on the lam and abandons all of them. He has no choice: he has a really big organ grinder monkey on his back; one that “like life,” was out of his control once he turned the key to wind it up. The prologue with him trying desperately to return it only leads to another senseless (but awesomely constructed) death. He tries a flamethrower, but that monkey, like the energizer bunny, keeps drumming along no matter what you do to it. The boys eventually find it in a closet and wind the key. Nothing happens. Yet. Later that evening, at a hibachi restaurant, their babysitter becomes a bloody addition to the teppanyaki show of slicing and dicing.
Their mom. already world-weary, tells them everyone dies, so no big deal. Perkin’s doesn’t like adults very much. Between questionable parenting and offing them in creatively Grand Guignol style, it’s definitely a theme he’s latched onto here. The perfectly melodramatic music and the close-ups of the monkey’s dead eyes make us worry while the boys provide enough of their own menace between them. Bill is a mean one; Hal is the milquetoast one. Hal finally boils over and wishes Bill dead. He turns the key. His mother winds up dead instead. The brother’s swinging aunt and uncle take over custody. Bill decides to keep wearing his funeral suit as they both realize another funeral can happen at any moment, courtesy of the drum-beating monkey. They try dropping it down a well but that doesn’t help.
Bill becomes fixated on the monkey and turns into a recluse and worse, losing his grip on sanity. Hal becomes like his father and abandons his family out of fear of the monkey, shutting him off from those around him. The older Bill and Hal are played by Theo James. Eventually, both brothers meet again and must settle their feuding relationship over the monkey. Fortunately, for us, while they work their grievances out, more imaginatively cruel, yet funny, mayhem happens and even Death isn’t too thrilled about it.
Getting back to the Greek Theater (Comedy and Tragedy) slant, we have the prologue, where the boy’s father tells us exactly where all this is heading; then the parode, which is more spoken than sung, through the boys’ relationship becoming clear as they discover the monkey, debate over the monkey, fight over the monkey, and make their exodus over the monkey. The agon is the tension and conflict of that relationship throughout their lives, leading us to the parabasis, which would be the cheerleaders. About them. They are best seen to appreciate their impact on the overall commentary of the movie. And the chorus? Why, the monkey of course!
And you thought this was just another pretty horror movie with humor, didn’t you?.