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Horror fans have a new film adaptation to eagerly anticipate in 2025, and we don’t have to wait long to get it. The Monkey is coming to theaters everywhere on February 21. I first saw the trailer for The Monkey before another much-talked-about horror movie, Nosferatu. Now it’s the only horror movie I can think about. Why? It’s a new project from Osgood Perkins, director of Longlegs and The Blackcoat’s Daughter. And it’s a film adaptation of a short story by Stephen King, author of, well, nearly every famous horror story there is. Now here’s everything you need to know about The Monkey so that you can get excited about it too.
The Monkey is based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name. The story was first published in 1980 in Gallery magazine. Then, in 1985, a revised version of the story was published in King’s short story collection Skeleton Crew. The story follows two brothers, Peter and Dennis, who discover a toy monkey with cymbals in the attic. They find out that their grandfather disappeared under mysterious circumstances and that their father, Hal, blames the toy monkey for the unfortunate events that led up to their grandfather’s disappearance. As much as Hal has tried to escape the monkey, it just keeps finding a way back into his life. And every time the monkey claps its cymbals together, someone dies.
The movie The Monkey focuses on the story of twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played by Theo James) as a string of horrifying deaths follow in their wake after they find a toy monkey in their father’s attic. The brothers attempt to get rid of the monkey and move on with their lives, but years later, the monkey resurfaces, and the brothers will have to band together to destroy the monkey once and for all.
Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth, Cocaine Bear) plays young Hal/Bill. Also starring are Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy. Based on the trailers and the information we have about the movie so far, it’s unclear what their roles will be. We do know, from the premise of the film, that the story will expand on the original short story quite a bit, so there is a lot of room to play with new characters and scenarios.
Osgood Perkins also wrote the script for the film. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Perkins said it is his most comedic movie “by far.” The writer/director said, “I saw an opportunity to make a wry, absurdist comedy about death. It’s about the very basic fact that we all die — and how fucking funny and weird and impossible and surreal is that shit?”
Perkins recently shared a clip from the upcoming film “as a Christmas present.” The director tells viewers that the movie is “really dark, but a lot of fun…keeping in the spirit of the short story written by Mr. King.” The clips feature Sarah Levy as Aunt Ida as she encounters the monkey…and suffers the consequences.
The Monkey is produced by James Wan and Atomic Monster. It was filmed in Vancouver in early 2024. And now it will be released by Neon on February 21, 2025. Catch it in theaters everywhere!
