Ronit J

The Monkey (2025) Synopsis:

When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.

The Monkey (2025) Review:

I vaguely remember reading about The Monkey (short story) years ago, but forgot about it until Aadar Malik mentioned it an the episode of The Internet Said So a while back. Just after, I saw the film listed on my feed. I had been meaning to watch it ever since, but never got the chance.

Until a few days back when Rohan Joshi put up a message on his Insta channel praising the film for everything that I was looking for in a film. So… I dove in. And here are my unbiased thoughts…

The film starts with Captain Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott), who’s trying to get rid of a Monkey that is not a toy. The pawn shop owner ridicules him, until the Monkey begins to play its drum, leading to a freak accident involving a harpoon and disembowelment. Captain Petey burns down the pawn shop, hoping to destroy the Monkey with it.

From there, we cut to twins Hal & Bill (Christian Convery), Captain Petey’s children who are abandoned by him. Their single mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany) does her best to be a good mother, but is also equally candid about the pointlessness of life and other evidently depressing traumas in her life.

One fine day, the twins discover the Monkey. Reluctantly, Hal turns the key, setting off a series of freak accidents à la Final Destination.

A Grotesquely Funny Horror Tale About Trauma

Despite the dark and ominous ambience, there is an air of comedy that bleeds through right from the opening scene. The comedy actually serves to make each character human (despite the clunky dialogues), further making you relax. That’s when unsuspecting viewers are pushed into an explosion of blood, gore, and grotesquerie that’s very reminiscent of Final Destination. And its the presentation of these gory scenes that really makes The Monkey shine. Every single death is laugh out loud funny. It will also leave you feeling ‘WTF’, equal parts at the cruel creativity of the makers, as well as the schadenfreude you feel at the comedic deaths you just consumed.

The story is pretty simple and straightforward, leaving ample space for the filmmakers to really play around with individual gory set pieces. And that is where I feel the film truly shines. It takes its time to set up the emotional backbone of what eventually leads to the journey of change, self-discovery, and… well, gore. Every death leads to the kids moving houses (twice). When they’re grown up, Hal (Theo James) seems to have moved on. He lives a relatively reclusive life. He has a son, whom he maintains a distance from in order to protect him from the Monkey’s curse.

The Monkey is clearly a tangible stand-in for inherited trauma/generation trauma. The Monkey’s curse is all the negativity that comes from the toxic behaviour learned from trauma. Unchecked, that behaviour and trauma can cause a lot of destruction (emotional or otherwise). Hal’s acceptance and acknowledgement of his absence is like a fable, with the Monkey’s continued presence symbolising that the trauma never really goes away, you just need to learn to manage it.

Artificial Dialogue, Pacing Issues, And More…

While I loved the film as a whole, there were several issues I found with it. Mainly the pacing and the dialogues. The dialogues—for all their poetic flair and cinematic values in isolation—felt very clunky. It didn’t feel like I was watching two human beings talk. Neither did the film present an overtly poetic picture to justify the clunky dialogue. That, in addition to the relatively odd character development resulted in me not really immersed in any character as such.

Now, that last bit might sound contradictory. I did praise the film for establishing the conflict and backstories well, didn’t I? But then, how can I complain about the characters? Simple: the characters don’t act in ways beyond what the plot demands. The more you think about it, the more the characters don’t really make sense. However, if you keep that bit aside, and focus only on plot, the film makes a lot more sense. And this is a big loss for the film in my opinion, given the talented cast that’s realising the film’s story.

Apart from that, the time jumps didn’t really feel organic. The pacing was a tad wonky, and many of the scenes didn’t land for me. The Trasher’s home story, in particular, felt underdeveloped. Same for almost every character, including our protagonists. Given that the pacing was off anyway, a little more time dedicated to developing character would actually have improved the pacing in my opinion. Instead, we got multiple series of fast paced plot jumping from one to the other in a manner that almost broke my immersion.

The Monkey (2025) Ending Explained (SPOILERS)

Turns out, Bill has been living in their hometown, continuing to keep an eye out for The Monkey. He has come to the conclusion that anyone who turns the key is protected from the Monkey’s curse. Using the Trasher’s help, he manages to get his hand on the Monkey, which he hopes to get in the hands of Petey. His reasoning: if Hal’s turning of the key resulted in their mom, Lois, dying, then Petey’s turning should lead to Hal’s death. This is his revenge for their mom’s death.

In the finale, he does manage to have Petey turn the key, but the resulting catastrophes don’t affect Hal. Frustrated, Bill tries to force the Monkey’s hands to strike the drum, but fails. Until finally, the Monkey begins to drum vigorously for a very long time. The rhythm results in the entire town facing a series of unseen carnage, including a plane crashing. Despite that, Hal, Bill and Petey are unscathed.

Finally, Hal tries to reconcile with Bill. Bill realises that Hal too lost his mom in the accident, and that the Monkey’s curse was no one’s fault. He is about to accept the reconciliation, when the Monkey strikes the drum one last time; Lois’ bowling ball falls into a canon, that shoots into Bill’s face, killing him.

Hal and Petey get into a car and decide to go on with their drive to the amusement park. Hal promises to genuinely try to be a better father, breaking the chain of trauma and parental absence. On their way out, they encounter Death, The Pale Horseman, who nods in acknowledgement.

They drive away, the Monkey still in the backseat.

Is The Monkey (2025) worth watching?

Yes.

Despite its flaws, The Monkey is a beautiful experience. The story, the gore, and the deeper meanings of the horror elements, all come together to realise Stephen King’s short story in an entertaining, captivating manner.

But, if you’re not one to laugh out loud at gory deaths… or are just unsettled by gore in general… this is not a film for you.

In Conclusion:

The Monkey (2025) is an outlandishly funny film that also does good by its horror elements, telling a beautiful tale of inherited trauma.

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• Weapons (2025) | Film Review
• The Handmaiden (2016) | Film Review
• Nope (2022) | Film Review
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 | Review | Episodes Ranked
• Takopi’s Original Sin | Anime Review
• Island of the Dying Goddess

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