Summary
Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey (2025) offers a thrilling mix of old-school gore and heartfelt character drama. With strong performances and creative death scenes, it’s a grisly delight that delivers more than expected.
In Osgood Perkins’ latest horror offering “The Monkey,” audiences are treated to a delightfully grisly tale that strikes a perfect balance between gore and character development.
The film follows twin brothers Bill and Hal (both brilliantly portrayed by Theo James) whose childhood discovery of their father’s mechanical monkey—definitely not a toy—unleashes a series of elaborately violent deaths through Rube-Goldberg-style execution sequences. Years later, as estranged adults, the brothers must confront the cursed object when it reemerges, with Hal fighting to protect his son before losing him to adoption by his ex’s insufferably annoying new husband Ted (Elijah Wood in a well cast, super annoying supporting role).
What sets “The Monkey” apart in today’s horror landscape is its refreshing lack of pretension. Rather than attempting to unsettle viewers with existential dread or relentless tension, Perkins delivers straightforward horror entertainment with generous helpings of blood and unexpected humor. The practical effects shine in the death sequences, offering gore enthusiasts the spectacle they’ve been craving in an era of increasingly bloodless genre entries.
Beyond the carnage, the film succeeds in crafting compelling character dynamics, particularly in exploring the fractured relationship between the twins and Hal’s desperate attempt to forge a meaningful connection with his son before their separation. Tatiana Maslany rounds out the strong cast with a nuanced performance that grounds the supernatural elements.
“The Monkey” isn’t trying to reinvent horror cinema, but its combination of old-school gore, genuinely funny moments, and surprisingly effective emotional beats makes it a standout release that genre fans will embrace with enthusiasm—even if they might be missing a few limbs by the credits.
