• Director: Osgood Perkins
• Screenplay: Osgood Perkins
• Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood
• Cinematography: Nico Aguilar
• Editing: Greg Ng, Graham Fortin
• Score: Edo Van Breemen
• Genre: Comedy horror
• Runtime: 98 minutes

Coming only 7 months after his last feature, ‘Longlegs’, Osgood Perkins returns with a tale of murder and mayhem all caused by a toy monkey. Y’know, one of those insanely creepy monkeys with the drum kits. It’s not a toy though, it’s a killing machine. Every time someone winds it up, certain death shall follow. And always the most gruesome, chaotic deaths, giving ‘Final Destination’ a run for its money. It’s comedically over-the-top, but that’s the intention.

When their pilot father brings the monkey back from a trip elsewhere, twins Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery) discover the curse at the expense of innocent family members. A decent chunk of the movie is devoted to the boys’ childhood living in the shadow of constant expiration, as opposed to a rushed 5 minute recollection of their backstories. 25 years later, the brothers (now played by Theo James), are estranged, meanwhile the monkey is out there…lurking…because evil never dies.

Perkins seems to have an obsession with death but if you research his own parentage, you understand what makes him tick. His dad was Anthony Perkins of ‘Psycho’ fame, who died from AIDS-related pneumonia. His mother, Berry Berenson, an actress and model, was killed in a plane crash – a victim of 9/11, no less. The latter being totally preventable in a ‘sliding doors’ moment, say if Ms. Berenson had woken up late that morning and missed the flight. The movie’s message of ‘accidents happen’ becomes even more significant.

It’s certainly miles better than ‘Longlegs‘, which I found to be dreary and unimaginative. This may be due to the source material; the plot of ‘The Monkey‘ is based on a Stephen King short story. Hang around for a post-credits scene teasing Perkins’ next project, ‘Keeper’, set for release in October. He’s on a (drum) roll.

My rating: 7 / 10