Don't Waste Your Time - A Review of The Monkey

The Monkey is a comedic horror film partially based upon a rather unknown short story by famous author Stephen King. However, the similarities between the original short story and this full length feature film are few and far between. The short story and the film should thus be considered two completely different creations. While the former is worth the attention of horror genre enthusiasts, the latter is clearly below average and not worth anyone's time.

The story is based upon a cursed monkey toy that brings dreadful terror to an American family. The father who has purchased the toy tries to sell it to a pawn shop owner who dies in a violent chain reaction. The family's former babysitter gets massacred at a hibachi restaurant. The mother passes away due to an aneurysm. When twin brothers Hal and Bill realize that the cursed monkey toy is related to all those dreadful deaths, they desperately try to dispose of it. However, they can't escape the curse as the toy comes back haunting them time and again until they reach adulthood.

On the film's positive side, some of its death scenes are creative, memorable and violent which should appeal to horror movie enthusiasts. The film also has a gloomy atmosphere present from the promising opening scene until the slapstick comedy of the epilogue. The soundtrack and sound effects are decently used throughout the film to underline its eclectic mixture of comedy and horror.

Everything else is however a disaster. The story is boring, exchangeable and predictable throughout. The acting performances are absolutely forgettable as Theo James looks completely overloaded by performing two lead characters at once while supporting actresses and actors such as Sarah Levy, Tatiana Maslany and Osgood Perkins perform like hollow caricatures that are shallower than the least imaginative side characters from Happy Tree Friends. The comedic elements of this film are mostly darkly humorous slapstick sequences that might make you chuckle once but only yawn after they have occurred half a dozen times. The horror elements of this film are disappointingly underdeveloped as there are no scary moments to be found. The locations have also not been chosen with care as they rush by without leaving any significant mark and ultimately turn out to be entirely exchangeable.

At the end of the day, The Monkey is a below average comedic horror film that is only just a slight notch above being considered a disastrous experience. The gloomy atmosphere, intense death scenes and fitting soundtrack save this movie from being a complete failure. The weak acting, repetitive comedic elements, unconvincing horror segments, exchangeable locations and boring story all drag the film down. I would only recommend this movie to adamant genre enthusiasts who have already been watching hundreds of horror movies from Nosferatu and The Mummy over Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Human Centipede and Wrong Turn. Everyone else should avoid this movie and instead spend a wonderful evening at a restaurant with loved ones.