The Monkey (2025) – Family Trauma, Fatal Toy

Rating: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5 Stars)

Released 02-21-2025

Watched 04-11-2025

Reviewed 04-16-2025

Rented from Apple TV+

"You wouldn't happen to remember if, uh, my aunt had a wind-up toy monkey at the yard sale?"

Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey doesn’t hold back on the carnage. From the moment the creepy wind-up toy claps its tiny cymbals, audiences are in for a bloody, high-kill-count thrill ride. Adapted from a lesser-known Stephen King short story, this horror-comedy walks the tightrope between shock and snark, and while it mostly works, it leaves just enough dangling threads to be frustrating.

The story follows twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played by Theo James), who, as children, discovered their father’s sinister toy monkey. It’s the kind of vintage trinket you’d find collecting dust in the attic, but every time the monkey claps, someone dies in gruesome fashion. When the monkey returns years later, so does the terror, spiraling the brothers and Hal’s young son into a new cycle of inexplicable violence.

The film’s biggest strength is its gleeful commitment to horror. The deaths are creative, gory, and so frequent that you almost start keeping score. It’s a playground for practical effects and over-the-top kills, which horror fans will eat up. If you like your scares with a side of campy humor and don’t mind watching body parts fly, this one will scratch that itch.

That said, the film’s biggest flaw is the lack of any meaningful backstory. The monkey’s origin is never explored. We’re not told where it came from, why it kills, or even how their father acquired it in the first place. The script leans into mystery, possibly to leave room for a sequel or prequel, but that choice makes parts of the story feel hollow. Without that context, the emotional stakes don’t land as hard as they should, especially for a story centered on family trauma and generational fear.

The performances are solid. Theo James handles the dual roles with enough distinction to keep things clear, and young Colin O’Brien brings genuine vulnerability as Hal’s son. The direction is stylish, the pacing is tight, and the tension builds well, even if the resolution feels more like a setup for future installments.

In the end, The Monkey is a fun, freaky time, just don’t expect answers. If you love horror with a twist of dark comedy and don’t mind a bit of narrative ambiguity, this one’s for you. But if gore turns your stomach or you prefer neatly wrapped endings, you might want to sit this one out.