Cast:
Theo James (Hal and Bill Shelburn; Christian Convery as young Hal and Bill), Tatiana Maslany (Lois Shelburn), Colin O'Brien (Petey), Rohan Campbell (Ricky), Sarah Levy (Ida), Adam Scott (Capt. Petey Shelburn), Elijah Wood (Ted Hammerman), Oz Perkins (Chip), and Danica Dreyer (Annie Wilkes) Directed by Oz Perkins (#2230 - Longlegs)
Review:
"The thing with this toy monkey is that the people around it all die in insane ways. So, I thought: Well, I'm an expert on that.' Both my parents died in insane, headline-making ways. I spent a lot of my life recovering from tragedy, feeling quite bad. It all seemed inherently unfair. You personalize the grief: 'Why is this happening to me?' But I'm older now and you realize this shit happens to everyone. Everyone dies. Sometimes in their sleep, sometimes in truly insane ways, like I experienced. But everyone dies. And I thought maybe the best way to approach that insane notion is with a smile."
Well, everybody dies. As I recall, 1000 Ways to Die put a bit of spooking in my mind when it came to strange deaths, exaggerated or not (well, as much as one can do when on a network named "Spike" that rolled with accidents such as exploding breast implants or death by sex); yes, some people die weird rather than, say, diabetes or murder. So anyway, The Monkey. The original story, as written by Stephen King, came out as a booklet in Gallery magazine in 1980. A lazy reading of a synopsis of the story (by me) reveals that it actually didn't have a twin brother in the first place, merely having flashbacks to an only child finding a monkey (which banged cymbals rather than drums) that clapped its cymbals before a calamity followed before he foolishly believes he can throw it in a well to stop it. Of course, that one had the curse strike animals (cats, and, uh, fish). It isn't often a director mentions their parents dying in "headline-making ways", but here we are. Perkins elected to eschew the proposal to make a serious adaptation of the story for his screenplay, listing various "patron saints" from Richard Donner to John Landis, to Chuck Jones and most specifically, Robert Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her (1992).
Okay, work with me on this one. This film is basically Final Destination (2000) if it was actually competent. Death is an unseen force in both movies, if you think about it...except this film at least leans in with having a sop for a lead presence that you might expect from someone troubled with the specter of death that they get to see around them that you cannot really truly beat. Truthfully, the gore in violence is sometimes more amusing to see play out more than the actual attempts at humor, and this seems apparent here, which is still a compliment for a movie that manages to find new ways to turn the screw on looking at the strange qualities that come with death rather than try to chill it to the bone. In short: guilt all you want, sometimes it can be amusing to see weird stuff happen to people for no reason, such as say, cutting to a funeral after someone has used the drum that resulted in someone getting trampled to death. Spooky or not, it at least hits enough to strike for some queasy amusement to be had for 98 minutes to at least make for a suitable viewing alongside certain Stephen King adaptations. Even with its twin settings of 1999 and 2024, one does have this weird, warped feeling where it isn't exactly beholden to a specific time or place (for instance, a phone book page gets used at one point). It is interesting to see twins played by the same person in two different ages with James and Convery, to see those differences in what one does in the face of impulse at the expense of being alone with the pit of one's soul. Others are there for bits and pieces, such as a semi-amusing Maslany or O'Brien, who does fine with playing the one stuck in the middle of what you might call a family tradition in "choices" (the intro features Scott in a semi-amusing cameo after all). It sets up its misfortunes of death with stark execution that doesn't just splatter some red on the screen for the sake of it but instead makes its moments zing with cruel efficency, particulaly for its final cut. Admittedly, its hit-or-miss attitude can be a bit cloying enough to where I get where someone could just find it fine, because not everyone will find bemusement at two pathetic brothers that spend much time with a toy and playing the man of death. To each their own. As a whole, The Monkey is a worthwhile horror comedy in slick execution that has a few zingers within the terror in the randomness of death that will prove right up the alley of people who can chuckle with the best of them for gooey times.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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