When twin brothers Bill and Hal discover their father’s old toy monkey a spate of gruesome accidental deaths ensue. Frightened that they have unleashed a monster they throw it into a well. Twenty-Five years later Bill and Hal are estranged but find themselves forced together again when another spate of gruesome accidental deaths begin. Could the monkey have returned? 

The Monkey begins with a superb opening sequence featuring the boys’ father Petey (Adam Scott) trying to offload the cursed toy in a pawn shop. Chaos ensues before Petey abandons his wife Lois (Tatiana Maslany), leaving her to raise their twin boys alone. Scott, featuring in the film for barely a few minutes leaves an indelible mark. 

We then see the twins, played as boys by Christian Convery, slowly grapple with the monkey’s curse and the demons handed down from their father. Convery is so good that you barely consider the framing or camera trickery required for the shots featuring them both. Whilst Maslany plays the caring but struggling single mother well. 

The film falters though when the boys are grown up. At this stage Theo James takes over the dual roles of the twins. Hal now has his own son named Petey (Colin O’Brien) who he only sees once a year because he is scared of the damage he will cause to him as a father. Whilst Bill has grown apart from Hal who is filled with the anger of abandonment that he feels by his family. 

The themes of emotional baggage passed down by parents are prevalent which is something very personal for writer/director Osgood Perkins, whose childhood and parents were complicated to say the least. It is almost comical that in the film the absentee father literally leaves his baggage in the closet for them to find. Whilst the damage Petey passes to Hal, who then passes it to his son Petey could not encompass the idea of, “the sins of the father…” anymore literally. 

But whilst the inventive deaths create a lot of humour and tension the relationship between the brothers becomes less interesting as the film continues. Causing a disconnect for the audience as they lose interest in the main relationships to focus on whether or not there might be another inventive and violent death.

The Monkey is based on a Stephen King short story published in 1980 and written and directed by the aforementioned Osgood Perkins who made the brilliant Longlegs last year. Lightning has not struck twice here though. The Monkey is a passable entry in the horror comedy pantheon but would be incredibly low down on the list of Stephen King adaptations worth watching.