No assembly RequireD

Tell me if you have heard this one before. A father walks into a pawn shop with a wind up monkey. The father claims the monkey is not safe for his children. The pawn shop owner says “I have no need for that” so the monkey sends a harpoon into the store owner’s chest ripping his guts out. Ba Dum Ching!

Death is not often seen as humorous but in reality it may be life’s greatest joke. Death is unavoidable and at times very random, but no matter what death is our final punchline. Stephen King has always known this and to some degree was a basis of his 1980 short story “The Monkey” about a man reflecting on his past when an evil killing wind up toy monkey resurfaces in his life. Nearly fifty years later THE MONKEY has found new life in Osgood Perkin’s adaptation of King’s story that is… well it’s totally bananas. A macabre but often humorous look at death and the way we absorb its lessons (if there are any). THE MONKEY is the rare horror comedy where maniacal carnage earns its laughs without ever belittling the overarching story. A story of family wounds as boys try to become men in the shadow of an absent father. Perkins who terrified many with last year’s “Longlegs” may have unintentional (or completely on purpose) delivered a companion piece delivering his own parental horror duo. THE MONKEY is far from the warm hug you have always wanted from your parents but it is a devious and all around entertaining reminder that our parents and the pain they give us is, much like death, unavoidable.

The Shelburn twins hate each other. For young Hal and Bill (Christian Convery) their childhood of twindom mainly involves older brother Bill (by three minutes) reminding Hal that his mother hates him and therefore Hal must always obey Bill. Well Bill is wrong about one thing. Their mother doesn’t hate either of them. In fact their mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany) is the rock keeping them safe in a world where their pilot father abandoned them with nothing but useless junk he collected over time. In that pile of junk is a child’s toy of a smiling monkey with a snare drum and sticks in his hand. The windup toy monkey, whether it’s a drum or cymbals is always terrifying and has haunted children’s bedrooms in movies for decades. This time around the monkey (shoutout to the props department for making this thing absolutely horrifying) is a harbinger of death when beating the final note on the drum someone somewhere meets an early and bizarre demise. It isn’t long before Hal and Bill realize what they have in their possession and while they fear the monkey there is an understandable youthful curiosity to know if they can control the toy. Perkins has a goofy if not disturbing good time with this early half of the film channeling the childhood memories that author Stephen King has become synonymous with even though the film thankfully avoids many of the writers melodramatic tendencies. THE MONKEY displays death scenes and blood splatter that may evoke a big belly laugh but it is all in service of showing that while the boys know the monkey is the cause, death to everyone else is a random and often unexplainable occurrence.

As anyone with childhood trauma can tell you the adult years are not much easier. Hal (Theo James playing the adult version) is now a deadbeat dad working at a middle of nowhere convenience store all while trying to forget the pain the monkey brought to his family. Estranged from his brother (also played by James) and son Hal has one last chance to prove he can be a good father to his son Petey (Colin O’ Brien) before he is officially adopted by his stepfather. But the past is never far behind and the resurface of that devious monkey sends Hal and his son on a road trip that may be the life threatening father son bonding experience they need. Perkins truly has made THE MONKEY an ode to fatherhood of all sorts. There is a humorous if not upsetting examination that for most men fatherhood can feel like a death sentence. For men who had little or no father figure in their life becoming one yourself is a confusing and terrifying time. Perkins never lets these men off the hook but it also tries to understand the pain they inflict upon themselves and others. In doing so THE MONKEY as a film sort of feels like hanging out with your dad deadbeat or not. Cinematographer Nico Aguilar channels 60’s psychedelic energy that you would see in a nightmarish Jefferson Airplane music video. Here it involves giant monkey paws grabbing you in the middle of the night ripping you into pieces. It’s like listening to your once hippie dad’s records he bequeath onto you. The dad vibes don’t stop there, in fact one could say THE MONKEY works so well as a double feature with “Longlegs” because where “Longlegs” was a film showing the pain and weight mother’s endure to protect their children THE MONKEY is the care free dad that only shows up once a year with a six pack in hand and gets idolized by their longing child. It’s an unfortunate reality that THE MONKEY plays into even in its more heartfelt moments. As Hal does get closer to his son it all feels too easy at times, sure there’s a killer toy monkey on the loose but who doesn’t love more time with their dad?

It helps that actor Theo James is so charismatic doing double duty both as dad and deranged Uncle Bill. As grown up Hal he is sort of a more brooding Clark Griswold so much so that one of the more chaotic deaths resembles an infamous “National Lampoon’s Vacation” moment (hint it involves a seedy motel and a skimpy bikini pool attendee). But James with his leading man good looks, and who was once straddled with a horrible dystopian YA franchise, seems better fit playing men struggling for control (he even exhibit this in the quite enjoyable “The Gentlemen” on Netflix). James along with Tatiana Maslany brings that needed emotional weight to the film that shows no matter how much chaos occurs our most grounded moments still come from family time. THE MONKEY lets us know early on that while family may be the source of our greatest pain it is also where we can find comfort. The idea that running away from the pain is a common occurrence in films especially horror, but Perkins (a man who has faced his own family tragedies) continues to come back to the idea that our parents good or bad can still remind us of better times. Hell one could argue that Perkins is the most pro parent filmmaker since Nick Cassavetes turned “The Notebook,” a love letter to his parents, into a cinematic phenomenon. THE MONKEY may not become a normal father’s day tradition but the sickos will certainly find a way to make it one.

For all its madness and body parts flying (and boy do they ever) THE MONKEY is a constant reminder that running away does nothing to solve the issues. The evil monkey will follow us wherever we go and often is as engrained in our lives as any other family member. Perkins isn’t saying its easy being part of a family, hell the film isn’t even saying we have to stay with our family, but THE MONKEY does want us to know that we will all meet our demise one day. Some of us will do so with family members by our side while others will go about it alone. But no matter what when we do depart that monkey will be right next to us smiling.

A

THE MONKEY WILL BE RELEASED IN THEATERS BY NEON ON FEBRUARY 21