When twin brothers find an old monkey toy as kids, a curse follows them for years, and people around them die in the most unexpected ways.
Interesting concept, solid execution, but pointless. The trippy shots and editing in the trailer can get one hyped up. It makes one wonder what on earth is happening in that film and why such a gory spectacle is received with such reactions. Watching the film itself, one will still wonder the same. Great shots, great acting, humorous deaths, plenty of blood, and loads of paranoia should have been accompanied in the end with at least an inclination as to why this is all happening. I am not talking about spoon-fed Hollywood narrative, but some sort of material so that we, the audience, start toying with ideas, conspiracies, extremities, and plenty of discussions for the days after. In all this mayhem, at least, we have great performances by Theo James and Tatiana Maslany.
My verdict: Nice watch, full of laughs and gore until the end credits. Maybe Stephen King’s short makes more sense, but the co-writer/director’s script does not. Osgood Perkins needs to be careful now. Longlegs (2024) was a fresh breath of old-school horror with a disappointing ending, and The Monkey feels like it has no ending or purpose at all. His creatively disturbed brain needs to establish why he does what he does, the expectations he raises and the audience he raises them to. Producer James Wan has all the skills, but has ended up a crowd-pleaser no matter what he does.
Regardless, I, for one, look forward to his next film. Hopefully with NEON again.
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