Oz Perkins' The Monkey Got 79% on RT, But Is It Really That Good? (Spoiler, Yes)
Director of Longlegs returns with a flick based on a Stephen King story.
The director of the successful Longlegs Oz Perkins returns with a new movie based on a story by Stephen King.
At first glance, it is as far as possible from the director's traditional leisurely sad slow burners like The Blackcoat's Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
This time the author deals with death and loss in the language of black comedy, where a toy monkey with drumsticks in its furry paws becomes the instrument of retribution.
What Is The Monkey About?
Twin brothers Bill and Hal grow up without a father. All that's left of him is a closet filled with junk like a pilot's uniform and a monkey with a drum.
As soon as the mechanism is wound and the music starts, someone inevitably dies. Only bitter experience tells the brothers that it is impossible to predict who will be the next target.
Bill knows that he must say goodbye to the devil ape as soon as possible, and his brother seems fascinated by the unlimited power in the form of a toy with a drum.
Oz Perkins' Movie Is Less Serious than Stephen King's Story
Like a short story by Stephen King, Oz Perkins' rather compact movie exists in two timelines – childhood games and the brothers' return 25 years later to the halls of youth and junk better forgotten forever in the garage.
In his text, King took more seriously the frightening forces and paranormal power of the furry beast, trying to instill horror not only with deaths.
Perkins keeps an ironic distance from the devilish abilities of the toy, preferring to play with it; more often than not, the reprisals of fate, like the triggering of accidents in Final Destination, are devoid of drama: the murders are more likely to provoke laughter than fear.
The Monkey Is a Breath of Fresh Air in the Black Comedy Horror Genre
Despite its charming non-committal nature and cheerful triviality, The Monkey pleases with its charge of illogical humor and monkey-like grin.
More and more often, sardonic horrors that prefer thick blood to tears, like Smile, break out of the series of leisurely sad horrors about inner experiences.
The Monkey Is an Exploration of Death and Fate
If the movie were just a parade of showstoppers with varying degrees of cynicism about cinematic violence, it might have ended up straight on streaming.
But even in the most unusual form of black comedy, Perkins manages to insert some rather tragic thoughts about loss into the chaotic swirl of murders.
And even directly on behalf of the boys' mother, he says, "Sooner or later, everyone dies. Even if you don't turn the key on the monkey's back today, it's impossible to predict where the next absurd accident will take place.