THE MONKEY
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy
Director: Osgood Perkins
ADRIANO
After the excellent Longlegs, writer/director Osgood Perkins' follow-up, The Monkey, not only fails to meet that high bar, it doesn't even come close. At first, the film's unhinged comedy-horror tone worked, and I was even laughing at some of the vicious kills. However, after a time jump, I was less forgiving of the obviously bad writing and uninteresting familial storyline. Even worse, the kills became less fun, it was rather tensionless, and in the end, the film wound up being very cynical about death's inevitability without any real reason beyond cynicism.
QUENTIN
Most horror comedies go wrong by trying to insert jokes into situations meant to be tense, causing neither the humor nor the dread to fully land. Director Osgood Perkins must share this view because The Monkey is a hilarious addition to the genre that does well to mesh playfulness with mayhem by relying on over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, self-aware campiness to bring the laughs instead of being “jokey.” The ridiculous death scenes conjure memories of Final Destination (but far gorier), and although the family storyline slows the gruesomely fun momentum at times, I was kept in eager anticipation for the next grindhouse-style kill. I had a blast.
ROBERT
As a society, we are aware that creepy toys are always the embodiments of evil, but The Monkey sees director Osgood Perkins raising the stakes on that truth, tenfold. Throughout the film, we are treated to a plethora of accidental deaths trumped up to drive home their hilarity, and the snickers and giggles never wane. While the underlying drama is unengaging, the set pieces and staged kill scenes never disappoint. Perkins understands how best to curate shots for timing and tension in this type of environment, and kudos to the cast for knowing the assignment and running with it full sprint.
PAIGE
The Monkey is a complete departure from director Osgood Perkins' previous film, Longlegs, because the director was clearly more inclined to focus on the zany and absurd aspects of the story rather than its dreadful and moody tone. While the movie excels with its inventive kills and sheer body count, it fails miserably when trying to capitalize on the humor of it all. The dialogue throughout this horror comedy is embarrassingly cringeworthy, too. I would have had a somewhat better time had the movie maintained the intensity it displayed during its first half, but, overall, I did not go bananas for The Monkey.
NICK
Coming off last year's horror hit Longlegs, director Osgood Perkins had firmly stamped himself as “one to watch.” Not even a year later, we get his follow-up, The Monkey, and it’s as if it was directed by an entirely different person. Despite its clever marketing, this film is neither scary nor funny (although it thinks it’s the latter), instead falling somewhere between annoying and disjointed. Nothing stands out positively, including the kills, which are somehow the highlight yet still play like a Final Destination rip-off. Last year was a really good year for monkey films, but that streak has come to a screeching halt.
BODE
If there’s one thing about Longlegs that caught me off guard, it was the sly sense of humour effectively sprinkled throughout all the dread. So, knowing that director Osgood Perkins would lean more into comedy with his follow-up, The Monkey, was fairly exciting. Unfortunately, he’s not totally successful with his pivot. There is fun to be had initially, especially with some of the kills, but as the unengaging familial drama gets more of a focus later on, the film loses plenty of steam and never fully recovers. The flat jokes and smug attitude it adopts don’t help either. Overall, The Monkey is a disappointment.
KATIE
The Monkey is not a particularly high-quality film, but it's a good time at the cinema. I find that the majority of horror comedies don’t do either element well, mixing them rather than giving the right amount of attention to either one, but I enjoyed the way The Monkey alternates between a creepy atmosphere, grisly kills, and cheesy humour. Theo James is funny in the dual role of Hal and Bill, but the familial drama is weak, adding to a recent stint of horror films that rely on a damaged father-son relationship for emotional engagement. However, they all fail since they feel perfunctory and ultimately empty.
BRYAN
With it being Osgood Perkins’ follow-up to the excellent Longlegs, there was a lot riding on The Monkey. Unfortunately, the execution fails to match what was promised in the marketing, reminding us that not all short stories can successfully transition into feature-length territory. Theo James is doing his best with the material given, and some of the scares are cleverly staged, but the blending of humor and horror is where the film hits a lot of bumps as the repetitiveness wears thin quickly. Plus, talk about major tonal inconsistency. I didn’t walk out of this feeling angry, but more so disappointed.
