Having always found doll’s eyes creepy, when one lays eyes on the plastic peepers from the film’s title character, you know you are in for a crazy ride and boy does The Monkey deliver the goods. Just when you thought those boffins in the world of cinema have used up all their imagination in dispatching people in gruesome ways, along comes screenplay writer/director Osgood Perkins and ups the ante by some margin.
The character in question is a toy monkey who once wound up plays the drums but this rhythmic interlude has a downside and one with fatal consequences. And those vivid fatalities are so imaginatively and comically staged, they almost defy description. You are quarantined to laugh out loud whether you like it or not.
Let’s put it this way if you applied the drinking game rules to every death scene in this film you would be absolute blotto before the end of the first half. You would have also laughed yourself silly. The ground rules laid out by Stephen King’s 1980 short story provide the building blocks for some truly outrageous fun. This rapid escalation of casualties lasts until the final scene and it’s a doozy.
Those with squeamish sensibilities, know that the gore is played mostly for laughs and is very imaginatively staged. British actor Theo James is very effective as the twin brothers who inherit the toy from their late father. It takes little more than a taste of the absurd to really enjoy The Monkey. If you find this kind of film a bit too much you need to realign your priorities because it’s one not to miss.
Rob Hudson
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