222) The Monkey (2025) - New to Horror

"It's just like life."

Director
Osgood Perkins

Cast

Theo James - Hal and Bill Shelburn
Christian Convery - young Hal and Bill
Tatiana Maslany - Lois Shelburn
Adam Scott - Capt. Petey Shelburn
Colin O'Brien - Hal's son, Petey Shelburn
Sarah Levy - Aunt Ida
Osgood Perkins - Uncle Chip
Rohan Campbell - Ricky
Danica Dreyer - Annie Wilkes

I haven't watched as many new horror movies this year as I have in previous years. I don't have the same sort of access to theatrical releases as I used to. I'm also watching too many other things to catch anything new that's streaming. And, honestly, not much has grabbed my interest. 

The 2025 movie "The Monkey" did, though. It's odd-ball premise and being based on a short story by horror writer Stephen King is what grabbed my interest. I just didn't catch it in theaters when it was released back in February, but I found it streaming on Hulu. 

Speaking of new horror releases grabbing my interest, the new "Conjuring: Last Rites," which was released yesterday (September 5) snatched my interest as well, mainly because I read Robert Curran's book "The Haunted" about the Smurl family which the movie is based on. Otherwise, those "Conjuring" movies are more misses than hits in my opinion. The only one that I found entertaining was "The Conjuring 2" from 2016. The first one was too over-the-top for me. And the third, "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" from 2018 was...honestly...I don't remember what I thought about it outside of simply not liking it much. Now, I'm getting off topic. 

Anyways, movie makers seem to continue taking interest in the obscurer-er writings of King. I've seen adverts recently for an upcoming horror movie called "The Long Walk" based on King's 1979 novel of the same name. 

By "obscurer-er" I mean older stories by King that haven't gotten the big screen treatment. The last King adaption to hit the big screen was, as I recall, "The Boogeyman" back in 2023. 
Frank Darabont and Jeff Schiro happened to adapt King's 1978 short story "The Boogeyman" into a short film back in 1982. Darabont would later direct three other more well-known Stephen King movie adaptations - "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Mist," and "The Green Mile." 

King had a Renaissance around the time "It" was released back 2017. A surge of King story to movie adaptations began popping up - "Doctor Sleep," "The Dark Tower," "In the Tall Grass," "1922," "11.22.63." to point out a few titles that released either theatrically or on streaming apps around then.  

I wrote about that back in 2018 as I checked out 10 not-so-remembered movie adaptations of King's works from the past. 

1) The Mangler
2) Riding the Bullet
3) Mercy (Based on King's short story "Gramma.")
4) Dolan's Cadillac
5) Quicksilver Highway
6) The Dark Half
7) Disciples of the Crow & The Boogeyman ("Disciples of the Crow" is based on King's "Children of the Corn")
8) Segmented Stories - ("The Moving Finger," "Gramma," and "Word Processor of the Gods.") 
9) Cell
10) Desperation

King's short story "The Monkey" was first published in Gallery magazine in 1980. A revised version is included in King's collective 1985 book "Skeleton Crew." 

In this movie, Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) tries to leave a mechanical wind-up monkey that plays a drum, at an antique store. He's nervous and desperate to get rid of it. He warns the store proprietor not to allow the monkey to strike its drum. As he does, the monkey's hand comes down on its own and strikes its drum which causes an unfortunate and deadly accident to occur. 

Petey ditches the scene but not before torching the monkey. He then leaves his wife Lois (Tatiana Maslany) and their two young sons, Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery) for the rest of their lives.
Hal is the more sensitive of the two boys which brings on the wrath and anger of his brother, Bill, the more rebellious of the two. 

They both find the monkey unscathed among a collection of items their father collected from around the world as he worked as an airline pilot. 

They wind it up of course, and it does its mechanical performance. 

Later that evening, as their babysitter (Danica Dreyer) takes them out to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner, she suffers a terrible accident that causes her to lose her head. This begins a chain of deaths through unusual freak accidents which occur each time the monkey is wound up and plays its drum. This includes the sudden death of their mother due to a sudden aneurysm. 

The babysitter's name, by the way, is Annie Wilkes. If you know, you know. Paul Sheldon would definitely know. So, there's that weird callback. 

Anyways, Hal and Bill are forced to live with their Uncle Chip (Osgood Perkins) and Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) who are both more or less decent people.  

Christian Convery in dual roles as Bill and Hal Shelburn.

After the death of Uncle Chip who dies thanks to the monkey, the twins decide to seal the monkey in its box and dump it down a well. 

Now an adult, Hal (Theo James) has never been able to completely forget about the toy monkey. Nor has he kept in touch with Bill (also played by Theo James). Bill relentlessly bullied his brother in their youth so it's no wonder Hal prefers to avoid any communication. 
While dealing with a custody issue over his son Petey (Colin O'Brien), his Aunt Ida...yep...has an accident. It's a very, very, very unfortunate freak accident. 

Hal's paranoia turns quickly into reality as the monkey mysteriously returns to his life. And with it, an undesirable reunion with Bill. 

While the name Stephen King brings stories such as "Carrie," "The Shining," and "It" to most minds, off-the-wall horror stories (for lack of a better term) like "The Monkey" aren't anything new for King. When he's not taking the dumb side of dumb arguments on "X" in his old, crotchety age, King is still writing insane fiction. And evidently people are still making movies out of his not-as-popular works.  

This guy wrote about a possessed laundry-folding machine in the short-story, "The Mangler," a town inhabited by the ghosts of dead rock n' roll legends in "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," a haunted Polaroid camera in "The Sun Dog," and deadly wind-up novelty teeth in "Chattery Teeth." 

If King can come up with stories that mix horror with outlandish plots, and still be taken seriously, what's stopping me from actually writing some of the weird ideas I've had for stories. And I do have a few.  

I'll add that his book "Pet Sematary" is the scariest book of his I've read. And his short story "The Moving Finger" was the creepiest. 

When it comes to the term "dark comedy," this applies to "The Monkey" in the truest sense of both words. 

Some of the ol' Stephen King tropes are including in "The Monkey." There's the Maine location. Most of King's stories are set in Maine. There's also a father who left when he ran out for some cigarettes.

And an insane premise sitting on top of something deeply (to some degree or another) psychological. Maybe it's drugs that arouse these weird plots? No accusations, of course. Seriously, what is "scary" about "The Monkey" and these other weird stories? In this case, it's the premise of unbelievable realities that dissolve boundaries. It's beyond the protagonist's control. In fact, the main character is at the mercy of some evil thing. And evil doesn't have mercy. It doesn't reason, either. Nor does it have any willingness to even try. 

"The Monkey" has the feel of a classic campfire horror tale. Only an active imagination eager to scare could conjure up a story about a deadly supernatural wind-up monkey that plays a drum. Add some ridiculous gore and really grotesque ways to die, and it quickly becomes a dark comedy in the truest meaning of the term "dark comedy." 

What I found most haunting was how well the face changes on the toy monkey without actually changing. The production quality of making the monkey have expression without changing its facial structure was absolutely masterful. I'm guessing it was either lighting or altering the color shades on its face that made its expressions go from innocent, to cunning, to evil and raging as it stared straight on with wide open staring eyes that never move. 

Director Osgood Perkins certainly has a twisted sense of humor. "The Monkey" manages to be a great fright-night popcorn flick gorefest. It's over-the-top and it knows it's over the top. And the underlying theme of family and forgiveness in the most difficult time gives the movie some actual substance.

Otherwise, the movies' insane. It's crazy. It's practically puerile. I was invested from beginning to end. 

221) Brain Damage (1988)

"This is the start of your new life, Brian. A life without worry or pain or loneliness. A life filled instead with colors and music." 

Director
Frank Henenlotter

Cast
Rick Hearst - Brian
Jennifer Lowry - Barbara
Gordon MacDonald - Mike
Theo Barnes - Morris
Lucille Saint-Peter - Martha
John Zacherle - Aylmer

I had my review for the 1988 comedy horror "Brain Damage" saved for the Halloween when I post 10 or more reviews during the season that follow a specific theme or series. 

After watching it and organizing my opinions, I decided to post it now and watch something else in its place. I already watched and reviewed another movie from director Frank Henenlotter for October, so I decided to post this commentary now. 

The first thing that came to my mind after watching "Brain Damage" is that it's definitely an experience. I'm sure if I thought long and hard enough, I could come up with a cleverer way to say that. But that's really the most accurate description. "Brain Damage" is really an experience. In other words, I doubt I'll ever forget I saw this movie. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. 

The movie starts with an older couple about to feed a platter of brains (gross, I know) to some unknown creature they're keeping in the bathtub. They're really excited about feeding this thing and making sure it's happy. 

That joy dies a quick death when they find this mysterious creature is missing. They panic and frantically try to find it. They're both so agitated that they begin to convulse in a seizure. They foam at the mouth, and everything. 

The story then shifts to Brian (Rick Hearst). Brian is leading a relatively normal life and lives with his brother, Mike (Gordon MacDonald) in the same apartment building as that older couple. He also has a beautiful girlfriend, Barbara (Jennifer Lowry) and I'm assuming a decent job as well. Things aren't extraordinary with Brian, but life is generally good. 

One night, just before he and Barbara are about to leave for a concert, Brian suddenly feels sick. 

He insists Mike take Barbara out instead while he rests from whatever's ailing him. 

So, they go out and leave Brian home. Lying in bed, Brian starts having some really trippy hallucinations.

Aylmer! And this thing talks.

Obviously, things are worse than he realizes. A parasite has somehow attached itself to Brian and causing these hallucination by inserting a needle-like appendage from its mouth into the back of his neck. It's injecting him with a fluid that goes straight to his brain creating a euphoric pleasure mixed with visions of colors and lights. 

Once Brian gets off his high and snaps back to reality, he takes the parasite off his neck and has a conversation with it.

It happens to speak perfect and distinguished sounding English. No joke! So, it introduces itself to Brian. 

It promises to give him more of his "juice" to create those euphoric feelings and tantalizing hallucinations. All Brian has to do is allow him to continue feeding on him from the back of his neck.

So, Brian agrees. 

The parasite tells Brian to go for a walk to where ever he wants to. This walk is likely the best walk he's ever had. 

During these parasitic trips, Brian doesn't speak coherently and doesn't realize what's going on around him. When the fluid and good feelings wear off, he doesn't remember anything. 

Of course, he's addicted to all this. Meanwhile, Mike and Barbara are worried about him and try to intervene. 

That older couple from the beginning catch on that their parasite attached itself to Brian. 

The husband (Theo Barnes) confronts Brian to try to get the parasite back. They had been feeding it animal brains before it escaped and found someone else. 

He tells Brian that the thing is called "Aylmer" and his "influence" can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Though they want Aylmer back, Brian isn't so willing to let him go. 

Aylmer ultimately wants to eat people. Once Brian figures out the parasite is using him to get to innocent victims, ultimately killing them, he realizes how deep and out-of-control this situation has gotten. So, he tries to free himself from Aylmer and his euphoric juice. But he can't. The withdraw is too hard to overcome by mere willpower. 

No doubt it's obvious this movie is an off-the-wall allegory regarding drug addiction, or any kind of addiction, really. 

According to Jon Towlson's book, "Subversive Horror Cinema," Henenlotter was inspired to make "Brain Damage" from his own addiction to cocaine. That's certainly no surprise. 

Rick Hearst in "Brain Damage."

"The film is about the joys and perils of addiction, in whatever for that may take. 'This is the start of your new life,' Aylmer promises Brian at the start of their liaison, 'a life without worry or pain or loneliness.' The fact that Brian's life is already good at the start - he is affluent, with a good job, an apartment on the Lower East Side and a girlfriend - speaks to the hedonistic appeal of cocaine to young people like Brian during the late 1980s." (Towlson, 186).  

"Brain Damage" doesn't strike me as a glorification of drug use, or addiction in general. The movie is called "Brain Damage" after all. 

Brian is depicted as enslaved to this thing on his neck, which I'd say is an accurate depiction of sin in general - enslavement to our vices and lower passions. 

The nitty-gritty of the addiction theme is spot on despite how off-the-wall it comes across. The devil, or Aylmer, knows where and what his victim's weaknesses are, and he presses them hard.  Pure will power doesn't completely help. Man needs grace. And Aylmer has absurdity itself as something to hide behind. Brian would be hard pressed to tell someone the parasite on his neck talks to him, and be believed. 

When Brian relies on his own power and limited strength to break himself from the addiction and its strong pull as he suffers withdrawal, Aylmer tells him, "Ready to beg for it, Brian? Ready to crawl across the floor and plead for my juice? No? Not yet? Well, give it a few more hours, Brian. Whenever you want the pain to stop, I'll be here. Whenever you want to stop hurting, you come to me. When the pain gets so great you think you're turning inside-out, just ask for my juice." 

Aylmer talks like a figure of reason, as it forms articulate sentences and arguments, trying to encourage Brian to allow it to feed. 

When Brian succumbs to the urges, Aylmer goes from "sympathetic" tempter to Brian's accuser, saying he can't break free now. He's fallen too far. 

At one point when Brian meets a girl at a club during one of his parasitic trips, Aylmer entices Brian with illicit sexual thoughts and contact with her just so it can feed on her brains, too. So, temptation, obviously, plays a big part in the movie's theme. It's blatant at times. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend "Brain Damagae." 

I mean, Henenlotter also directed the 1990 black comedy, "Frankenhooker" so sexploitation seems to run in his films. He also wrote and directed the black comedy "Basket Case" and its sequels, "Basket Case 2" and "Basket Case 3: The Progeny." Henenlotter seems to love a bit of gag-inducing gore! 

Kevin Van Hentenryck makes a cameo as his character from Henenlotter's "Basket Case" which I'll be posting a review for this October. 

"Brain Damage" is a trippy flick that oddly works as the off-the-wall dark comedy it is. It's as though the writers were more concerned with enjoying themselves and going with whatever came out of their mind when coming up with this flick. Who cares about line delivery or how ridiculous the whole thing becomes. They certainly wanted to entertain in the oddest way no matter how absurd it is by the end. 

It's a gory, cringe inducing creature feature at its best. Silly, surreal and repulsive. I went along for the ride all the way through. And the dialogue isn't any different. The lines definitely match the tone of the movie. 

"Why are the stars always winkin' and blinkin' above? What makes a fellow start thinkin' of fallin' in love? It's not the season; the reason is plain as the moon. It's just Aylmer's tune! What makes a lady, of eighty, go out on the loose? Why does a gander, meander, in search of a goose? What puts the kick in a chicken, the magic in June? It's just Aylmer's tune! Listen, listen, there's a lot you're liable to be missin'. Sing it, swing it, any old place, and any old time. The hurdy-gurdies, the birdies, the cop on the beat. The candy-maker, the baker, the man on the street. The city charmer, the farmer, the man in the moon, all sing Aylmer's tune!" 

As social media says all the time, now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it.