“The Monkey” follows twin brothers who find a mysterious wind-up monkey which causes a series of outrageous deaths that tear their family apart.
A Stretched Story From a Short Source
“The Monkey” is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story. It probably should’ve stayed in that format, as there isn’t enough material to fill a feature-length runtime. This becomes evident through a number of scenes that serve minimal purpose and feel included simply to take up space.
In early reactions, “The Monkey” has been hailed for its gore. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the hype. The film is certainly a splatterfest, and while it offers a variety of situational kills and weaponry, they all feel roughly the same. Each kill is short-lived, and the carnage never quite wows.
“The Monkey” relies on these kills to keep the movie afloat, as it doesn’t have much of a story. The repetitiveness becomes tiring, especially as certain plot points begin repeating themselves.
Dialogue Struggles and Structural Issues
This is a lazy story for several reasons, but largely because of its characters and structure. Dialogue is not a strong suit here, with even simple conversations feeling mundane and unrealistic. The film also relies heavily on narration – charming at first, but it grows old fast. While it aims to be a vessel for character development, it ultimately feels like a shortcut.
As the runtime progressed, it became clear that “The Monkey” wasn’t working toward anything meaningful. The characters consistently make inconceivably idiotic decisions, and while the film is trying to be comedic, the complete lack of reality makes it hard to buy into.
Rather than going all-in on scares, the film’s primary focus is making the audience laugh. It’s often successful, but the misses are noticeable. The humor runs through almost every aspect of the movie: the characters, the storyline and the kills. Many of the kill sequences garnered big laughs from the audience and myself.
Performances, Atmosphere and an Underwhelming Finale
While there are a number of explosively gory moments, “The Monkey” never goes as big as it should. With such a lackluster plot, the film needed to compensate with a grand finale, but the conclusion feels anticlimactic – just more seconds-long chaos.
The performances, however, are a strength despite the dialogue issues. Theo James excels in a dual role as Hal and Bill, shifting his performance when needed. Tatiana Maslany is a bright spot as well whenever she appears.
The score and sound design generate a fair amount of tension. Combined with the creepiness of the monkey toy, they create some of the film’s most haunting moments.
“The Monkey” is gore-filled fun at times, but it’s all for nothing. The carnage candy is there for horror fans to enjoy, but only for seconds at a time. The film jumps from kill to kill with little substance in between. The injection of comedy is hilarious in moments and cringe-inducing in others. It’s a movie with all the pieces to succeed, but the final product is nothing more than average.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
