The Monkey (film)

The Monkey is an upcoming American supernatural comedy horror film directed and written by Osgood Perkins. It adapts Stephen King's 1980 short story. Theo James plays twin brothers whose lives spiral out of control after a cursed toy monkey begins causing random, gruesome deaths around them. The supporting cast includes Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, and Elijah Wood. Neon is set to release the film in U.S. theaters on February 21, 2025. Critics have given it generally positive reviews following early screenings.

The story begins in 1999 when Captain Petey Shelburn tries to return a wind-up toy monkey that plays a drum. Before he can, the monkey drums, setting off a chain reaction that kills the shop owner with a harpoon gun. Petey then vanishes, leaving his wife Lois to raise their twin sons, Hal and Bill. The boys find the monkey among their father's things and wind it. That night, their babysitter Annie is accidentally decapitated by a chef at a hibachi restaurant. Hoping to kill his bullying brother, Hal winds the monkey's key again. Instead, Lois dies from an aneurysm in front of Bill. Hal throws the monkey away, and the twins move to Casco, Maine, to live with their aunt Ida and uncle Chip. The monkey reappears, Bill winds it, and Chip is trampled to death in a horse stampede. The twins seal the monkey in its box and drop it down a well.

Twenty-five years later, Hal remains paranoid and traumatized. He is estranged from his family, including his son Petey. His ex-wife plans to let her new husband adopt Petey, cutting Hal out. After Ida dies in a freak accident, Bill contacts Hal for the first time in nine years, saying the monkey has returned and asking Hal to retrieve it from Ida's house. Hal believes him after seeing a woman explode when she jumps into an electrified motel pool. At Ida's house, real estate agent Barbara tells Hal that a series of bizarre fatal accidents have occurred in town since Ida's death. A shotgun then falls from a closet, killing Barbara. Hal and Petey learn that Bill lives nearby and has the monkey, having hired a local named Ricky to retrieve it. Bill knows Hal once tried to use the monkey to kill him and has been winding the key in retaliation, though the monkey only kills random people. Hal begs Bill to stop, fearing for Petey.