PREMISE
When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings throw the toy away and move on, growing apart over the years.
THE GOOD STUFF
THE FIRST PART- The first section of this movie is a brilliantly done coming of age horror comedy. It does all the things that the great horror comedies do. Comedically executed kills, over the top musical cues played for laughs, hilarious dialogue, and a genuine understanding of the ridiculousness of the premise itself. First half hour of this movie is enjoyable and entertaining.
CHRISTIAN CONVERY- The champion of the first section of this film is the person who has the best performance in the whole movie, 15-year-old Christian Convery. The two main characters of this film are two extremely different twin brothers. One can easily play that loudly and quietly and get by off of hot shot bull****. But these two performances by Convery are totally different in such a subtle and excellent way. Both characters are emotionally vulnerable kids, and Convery plays those vulnerabilities differently. It’s not just loud stuff he’s good at. It’s the quiet stuff too.
STUPID HORROR CHARACTER BS- The thing I hate about most in horror movies is having stupid characters that make stupid decisions that put other characters in jeopardy in borderline come to ruin the integrity of the film itself. I am gleeful to announce that there is none of that stupid horror movie b******* in this film. Like shockingly not at all.
THE BAD STUFF
THE THEO JAMES CONUNDRUM- Is Theo James bad in this movie? Absolutely f****** not. He is so underrated as a performer, and deserves so much more than what he already has in this business. The performance isn’t the problem, it’s…him.
You see, there are some actors out there who look too much like movie stars to play normal ass people. They are good looking enough to drown out the belief that they can play everyday occupations, and in this movie, we are supposed to believe that a man as movie star handsome as Theo James is working at a regular CVS type retail store. A man who is so meek and so ignored by society that we are being forced to try to believe that Elijah Wood could swoop in and steal his girl.
Also, I don’t think comedy is Theo James’s strong suit. As opposed to the first part of this movie in which Christian Convery nails every comedic queue and punchline that this script sets his character up to have… James simply does not. A lot of his perceived funny material falls flat. Often. And when it does hit, it’s because he’s playing off of a funnier actor in the scene with him. Maybe comedy ain’t his thing.
THE SECOND PART- As opposed to the first part of this comedy, the second part stops being one, and becomes a flat-out horror movie. It’s almost as if Osgood Perkins stopped writing the film, took a lengthy break from doing so, came back to it and forgot it was supposed to be a comedy in the first place.
In that, it’s a lot more well done than a lot of other horror movies in the field. But the total switch is somewhat jarring from comedy to drama. The way that this movie started, I was believing that it might be one of the best mainstream horror comedies to come along in a while, and then by the end, my enthusiasm waned considerably.
THE UGLY STUFF
KNOW YOUR RULES- Long story short, horror movies based on a gimmick or have particular monsters or creatures that operate in a specific manner tend to have “rules.” Rules that state how the protagonist can combat the monster or problem (gimmick). The great horror flicks present a simplified set of rules that the protagonist has to figure out. The really great horror flicks figure out a way to never break their rules while building the world surrounding the gimmick.
The really bad ones forget they had a set of rules and begin breaking them to the point where it makes the story nonsensical. The middle gray area of films, like the monkey, meticulously operates by their rules, only to break them inexplicably at the end for the sake of just showing more kills.
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Now, it is important to note that some will point out the lack of a backstory when it comes to why the toy monkey has the powers it does. I understand that complaint. However, we are living in an age where the budgets of movies like this cost relatively cheap, and make their budget back in a couple of weeks, then get green lit for a prequel, and it is there where you will get the answers spread out over two or three more movies (The nuN series, and the Annabelle series, are two prime examples of this). It’s the way things go these days.
I hope you fully understand that, and that these questions do not pop into your head at the end of this film. If they do not, you’ll likely find this movie to be a lot more entertaining than the standardized jumpscare field soulless horror movie garbage that litter cinemas around this time of year.
THE MONKEY is in theaters now
