Osgood Perkins has proven himself particularly adept as a filmmaker in the horror genre. With The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel and most recently last summer’s Longlegs, he has become one of Hollywood’s positive examples of nepotism, but also one of our leading genre filmmakers. His most recent film, an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Monkey, releases a mere eight months after Longlegs became studio Neon’s highest grossing film ever in the United States. The Monkey and Longlegs could not have less in common. And that’s how I know Perkins is one of modern horror’s greats.

The Monkey opens on twin brothers Hal and Bill (Christian Convery) who discover their father’s vintage toy monkey in the attic of their mother (Tatiana Maslany)’s house. A string of horrifyingly brutal deaths ruled as accidents follows the discovery of this toy monkey, and they make a point to destroy it. As adults, Hal and Bill (Theo James) are estranged and somehow, the cursed toy monkey has returned and they must reunite in order to vanquish the evil once and for all.

The Monkey is ridiculous, it is absurd, it is batshit crazy. And it’s deliriously entertaining. The horror/comedy space is not one Osgood Perkins has previously trafficked in as a filmmaker, so I was unsure how this would all go. Also, being based on a short story (a Stephen King short story, but a short story nonetheless) had me concerned about the longevity of this as a feature-length story. Those concerns proved to be unfounded pretty early on. We spend the film’s first 30-45 minutes with the younger versions of these characters, and around the halfway point we do a time jump to present day. And considering the amount of background being covered before we get to that halfway point, it makes sense. And Perkins remains in complete control of the script’s wacky, absurdist tone.

I was introduced to actor Theo James as many were, in the not-great adaptations of the very popular Divergent book series. He’s classically handsome and endlessly charming, and yet he never uses that to his advantage. I appreciate the way he has chosen strange, challenging roles since that terrible franchise ended. With starring roles in Netflix’s The Gentlemen (adapted from the Guy Ritchie film of the same name) and HBO’s The White Lotus, James has proven himself a fascinating performer who is more than what he initially appears. However, due to his movie-star charisma, the most unbelievable thing about The Monkey is that James is playing a nerdy loser who works in a grocery store.

Child actor Christian Convery, previously seen in Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear is also very good here. Tatiana Maslany is having fun as Hal and Bill’s mother. Elijah Wood, Adam Scott, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy also show up in supporting roles, and considering I didn’t know any of these people were in this movie, it was nice to see some familiar faces pop up.

Perkins brings back a large chunk of the team that worked with him on Longlegs for The Monkey, however this feels like a larger endeavor altogether.  James Wan’s Atomic Pictures produced it as well as Peter Safran’s production company. We don’t have much of a budget and as a result the film’s many gnarly and over-the-top death scenes use practical effects and are felt incredibly viscerally. We’ve got gallons of fake blood and body parts flying all over the place and the sound design has a crunch to it that adds to the brutality on display. 

Overall, it’s a bit of a shock that The Monkey works as well as it does considering all that’s working against it. We have a very good horror filmmaker who has never made a horror/comedy movie before. He nails it. The tone of The Monkey is wry and completely aware of its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a horror comedy film that is gleefully aware of its own absurdity and you can just feel Osgood Perkins giggling behind the camera as these inventive and hideously brutal kills are unfolding. This short story stretched to the length of a feature does not feel overly padded, and moves along at a nice clip. If I had a complaint, I would say it ends on a bit of a shoulder shrug, but one that would allow Perkins to revisit this nutty world, so I will allow it.

Osgood Perkins’ second film in less than 12 months could not have less in common with any of his other films. The Monkey leans hard into camp and has a delightfully nasty sense of humor. This is a dark, mean-spirited, nihilistic and hateful little movie that I had such a fun time watching. Theo James couldn’t be better, and I hope he continues to pursue weird, offbeat parts like this that show his range moving forward. I wouldn’t wait to see this one on streaming, the communal experience is necessary for this one. The Monkey is incredibly fun to watch with the audience around you audibly reacting to the nuttiness onscreen. That’s perhaps my favorite part of all this. Turn the key and see what happens.