The Monkey
Director: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery
Genre: Kingdumb
The film The Monkey is based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King. So that should already indicate to a large extent if you’ll like the film or not. If you’re still unsure, you can take into account that, curiously, the drum-playing monkey is supposedly the same monkey that played cymbals in Toy Story 3 (2010), which was a much better and funnier film.
Now if that’s already confusing then what the film is supposed to be is confusing too. Marketed as a horror film, it sometimes tries to be a comedy, but the monkey goes from killing individuals and family members to being a gross shlock horror character where, for no reason, it kills lots of people and communities are destroyed. How it does that and manages to survive its own destruction is also a mystery.
I make no apology for this film spoiler as there are so many other parts of the storyline too that make no sense. Indeed, while some scenes are well acted and amusing, from the beginning to the end and the flashbacks, they often don’t work and can be hard to connect.
The Monkey is R rated because it’s rubbish.
Rating: One off
