The Monkey: An Over-the-Top Horror Outing with a Weak Narrative (Blu-ray)

The Film:

It seems like every couple of months we get yet another Stephen King adaptation from the seemingly-endless supply of novels, novellas, and short stories he's produced. Sometimes these turn out rather well, giving us classics like "The Shining," "Misery," and "The Green Mile," and sometimes they just don't quite get there. One of the latest is Osgood Perkins' "The Monkey," based on King's 1980 short story about a little toy monkey that seems to bring about a lot of death. Can such an odd little premise possibly put another positive in the long list of King adaptations, or is this another one that's destined to end up with the other clunkers?

Starting in 1999, the film opens with Petey Shelburn trying to return a drumming toy monkey to an antique shop. However, before he's able to, the monkey starts playing the drum and the owner is killed in a terrible fashion. Shortly after, Petey disappears, leaving behind his wife Lois (Tatiana Maslany) and twin boys Hal and Bill (Christian Convery). The twins find the monkey among their father's belongings and turn its key, leading to further tragedies. Even after attempting to get rid of it and moving, it somehow follows them, and when its key is turned again, more tragedy follows, causing the twins to seal it in a box and toss it down a well. However, 25 years later, while Hal (Theo James) is trying to deal with the collapse of his marriage and a son, Petey (Colin O'Brien ), that he rarely sees, the terror of the monkey once again rears its ugly head, forcing him to reconnect with his brother and face it head-on.

Just from that synopsis, you can see that the film has a rather peculiar storyline, one that certainly has the potential to appeal to the gore hounds in the audience in a rather macabre way, especially with its over-the-top & excessively gratuitous kills. In that way, it could even be taken as a rather dark comedy, providing amusement from the unexpected & sometimes rather elaborate deaths that will likely be reminding viewers constantly of the "Final Destination" series.

When it comes right down to it, if you like seeing people get killed in horribly gruesome, over-the-top fashion, this might be just the film for you, but if you're looking for something a little more involved, then you'll likely find yourself a little disappointed as there sadly isn't much of a story to go along with its gratuitousness. It's a bit of a shame because this seems like an idea that they could've done a lot more with, but in the end it merely ends up acting as the foundation for the film's brutal series of killings, and not much more.

Even when you look at the story itself, it's packed with rather nonsensical & forced plot points that make it even more difficult to get engaged with, and make it more apparent that the death sequences received the bulk of attention from the filmmakers, with the actual plot being more of an afterthought. Again, an excessively gory horror outing that doesn't concern itself too much with the narrative might be just fine for some folks in the audience, but for those looking for a decent amount of substance, unfortunately they're not likely to find this quite satisfying enough.

Video/Audio:

"The Monkey" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.00:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. This is yet another horror outing that can be rather dark at times, but the picture remains perfectly clear & crisp throughout the entire 90-minute duration. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Neon has done a marvelous job in both departments for the film's physical release.

Special Features:

Outrageously Gory and Thoroughly Gratuitous (3 Minutes): A very brief featurette that has the cast & crew talking about the film.

The Cast of The Monkey (4 Minutes): Another short featurette that focuses on the ensemble.

Becoming Hal and Bill (4 Minutes): A featurette that has Theo James discussing playing the twin leads.

Conclusion:

Osgood Perkins' adaptation of Stephen King's short story "The Monkey" may appeal to those looking for nothing more than another excessively gory horror outing that doesn't concern itself too much with the plot, but for anyone looking for something more than a series of brutal, over-the-top kills, it will likely lead to disappointment at its lack of substance.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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