To be honest, all the trailer for The Monkey needed to do was list three names: Stephen King, James Wan, and Osgood Perkins. Any horror fan would instantly be intrigued by that trio, especially with Perkins coming off the hugely successful Longlegs. But no, the first full trailer for The Monkey goes beyond just those names. It shows a horror movie that, potentially, is going to have a very goofy sensibility and we can’t wait.
The Monkey is written and directed by Osgood Perkins, based on a short story by Stephen King, and produced by James Wan. In it, Theo James (The White Lotus) plays a man whose family has been terrorized by a malevolent monkey doll. Every time the mysterious doll clashes its cymbals, someone dies. And, according to the poster for the film “Everyone dies. And that’s fucked up.” Here’s the first teaser for The Monkey:
And here’s that poster which, we’re guessing, might spoil the movie with its terrifying tagline.
From what we know of the original King story, it seems like the movie version of The Monkey has a similar setup but potentially goes even further. Last year, Deadline described the plot as follows: “When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.” So, seems like we get more of the monkey, more death, and more of our main actor too, in a dual role.
But what will that all feel like? The tone of the trailer is very horror comedy thanks in part to the song “Let the Good Times Roll” by Shirley and Lee. But could that just be the trailer Neon is presenting? The idea of a cursed monkey who forces people to murder by banging its cymbals is, to be fair, pretty goofy. And we know that Perkins loves to play with tone and expectation in his films. So we’re guessing that while The Monkey may not be a straight horror comedy, it’s going to be both very funny at times and very gruesome at times. We’ll find out in a few months.
Alongside Theo James, The Monkey co-stars Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) as well as Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk, Orphan Black), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends), and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek). It’s out on February 21.
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