“The Monkey,” a 2025 cinematic adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 short story, explores the horrific nature of an evil children’s toy that causes violent deaths. This film is comparable to the “Annabelle” series which has a similar premise, featuring a creepy doll that never seems to go away while also killing people. The main difference between the two concepts is that Annabelle is simply the physical host of a spirit that can possess humans too. The wind-up monkey, however, is the entity itself, only taking that one form.
The film opens up with Petey Shelburn Sr., played by Adam Scott. The man walks into a pawn shop with the wind-up monkey and tries to give it away. When he winds it up to show the shopkeeper, a string of events happen in the store, eventually causing the shopkeeper to be impaled by a harpoon gun. Because of this, the monkey remains in Petey’s possession, but is eventually transferred to his wife and two twin sons. When he abandons his family without explanation, the monkey is left in a closet.
Viewers are then introduced to Lois Shelburn, a cynical but caring single mother who raised the protagonist, Hal, and his twin brother, Bill. The two brothers are shown to have a tense relationship as their personalities contrast each other. Hal is timid, and Bill exerts dominance as the slightly-older twin by constantly ridiculing his brother. The boys discover the monkey in the closet where it remained untouched for years prior. Little did they know, turning the key on the monkey’s back to make it raise its little stick and bang on the drum meant that someone nearby would die violently.
Shortly after they decide the monkey is just a lame trinket, we meet a new character referred to as “Babysitter Annie.” As a side note, I hate when scripts unconventionally introduce characters to help the audience understand their role. There are other ways to show that Annie was their babysitter without calling her “Babysitter Annie.” I’ve never heard a person say that in real life. That’d be like if one of the twins called their mom, “Mother Lois.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the dynamics of a pretty standard relationship without the writers lazily spelling it out.
Anyway, Babysitter Annie dies suddenly at a hibachi restaurant after being mistakenly decapitated by the chef. Lois, while comforting her children at the cemetery, says “Everybody dies, and that’s life.” At this point, the monkey kept reappearing after being put away. Hal believed that it was responsible for Babysitter Annie’s death, though Bill was not yet convinced. Bill continues being unnecessarily cruel to his brother, influencing Hal to impulsively wind up the monkey and direct it to kill Bill. Instead, Lois dies in the kitchen, with Bill walking in to witness her brain aneurysm.
Both boys are heartbroken by the death of their mother, and toss the monkey down a well to ensure it won’t hurt anyone else. They go to live with their Aunt Ida and Uncle Chip, both of whom die from freak accidents later on. Chip was stampeded in his sleeping bag by horses, and Ida’s face caught on fire before she ran outside and got unrealistically impaled by a signpost.
At this point, Hal is about 40 years old and had stopped communicating with his brother several years prior. We learn he has an estranged son, Petey Jr., named after his grandfather. It’s implied that Hal kept his distance due to baggage from the past that Petey Jr. had no idea about. Hal’s stoic disposition as an adult comes off more as awkward rather than mysterious. He is asked by his ex-wife to cut off contact with Petey Jr. completely since her new husband intends to adopt him. Hal and Petey Jr. were offered one final week alone to bond. The dialogue between these characters was poor, but that could have been a stylistic choice to show they were disconnected. It doesn’t explain the weak interactions between other characters. It felt like everyone was reading from a hidden script instead of truly taking to their role.
Hal ends up witnessing multiple suspicious deaths comparable to the ones from his youth. He contacts Bill to let him know that he believes the monkey returned. Hal tries to locate the monkey to no avail, only to find out that Bill had the monkey in his possession the entire time, with Bill being the one who kept turning the key that killed more people. As it turned out, Bill knew all along that Hal was responsible for their mother’s death and vowed to kill his brother as revenge. The problem is that the monkey has a mind of its own, and will murder any person of its choosing besides the one who turns the key, and Bill’s dozens of attempts never harmed his intended target.
Hal and Petey Jr. go to take the monkey from Bill. Petey Jr. had to sneak in the house by himself because he was small enough to crawl through an opening. Bill tries to convince his nephew to turn the key and actually succeeds despite Hal instructing his son not to turn the key under any circumstance. Finally, Hal gets in the house and tries to reason with his brother and make amends. Not long after they are reunited, Bill is decapitated by a bowling ball. Problem solved.
Throughout the film, a total of 28 people die in freak accidents, mostly caused by Bill. There was a lot of gore, but none of the deaths seemed realistic. A beehive full of wasps flew in unison into one guy’s mouth. Another person stepped on a rake, causing his vape to get lodged inside his throat. I think many of these incidents were meant to be comedic, but each one just reminded me that I was only witnessing the work of special effects.
As a whole, “The Monkey” was fine but not impressive. Horror films centered around objects only capable of indirect harm are limited in how scary they can be. The monkey itself was definitely creepy, but at the end of the day, violence only occurred when someone wound it up. There were certainly paranormal powers at play, but nothing about this movie was terrifying enough to freak me out. I suggest that horror fanatics instead watch “Wolf Man.” That one made me sprint out of Black Bear Cinemas twice.
“The Monkey” Rating: 4/10
