Last week, we got a fresh new look at The Monkey, which was full of shocking (literally) deaths and dark humor. A lot of people seemed to like that trailer, because Neon’s now touting it as a success for the indie horror scene.
According to the studio, The Monkey now holds the title of having “the most watched independent horror film trailer ever.” It hit over 43 million worldwide views within 24 hours of launch, which then blew up into over 100 views in 72 hours. At the time of Neon’s press release, that number has gone up to 109 million across all platforms, and manged to beat out trailers for non-indie horror hits Smile (100 million) and The Black Phone (73 million for its first), and the second trailer for the fairly indie Talk to Me (23 million). It even managed to eclipse the views of the two trailers for current horror hit Nosferatu, which came to 74 million and 48 million, respectively.
Studios love touting trailer views when possible to show how much hype is behind their movies. In The Monkey’s case, it has a few things going for it: based off a Stephen King short story, it comes from Osgood Perkins, who helmed Longlegs last year for Neon. That movie went on to become a sizable hit and the studio’s best theatrical release ever, in part because it’s marketing was so dang creepy and sinister, and hid what Nicolas Cage’s titular killer looked like, you were invited to see what all the fuss was about. By comparison, Monkey’s trailer make it look like a riot to watch Theo James fail to prevent people from being killed by that little drummer primate, and it’s hard to argue against that kind of Final Destination-esque slapstick.
The Monkey hits theaters on February 21, but Neon recently screened it at Beyond Fest to positive reception. Expect our review closer to release.
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