There are dozens of movies that are based off of Stephan King books out there but Hollywood has started to adapt his short stories as well. As the master of horror himself really does like to make normal things seem alot more scary then what they actually are so then with one of those films just being released and it's the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the film that really does try to make a toy monkey scary with the film in question being called simply just "The Monkey" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when two brothers discover that there toy monkey can kill people at random the two set out to destroy it once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us inn this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as it's a plot that we really havn't seen before now with this films plot being oddly refreshing because of it and with this film being both written and directed by Osgood Perkins it's also a plot that's told really well with the film taking the time that it needs to set up it's plot and it's characters instead of just rushing through all of that something that would have been very easy to have done and while it is tempting to see where this film fits within the crazy of the Stephen King Universe what makes this films plot standout is the fact that it's not afraid to be this weird and goofy movie something that even the best Stephen King films are afraid to be and yet because of the fact that this films plot does involve a killer monkey it feels organic when this films plot does go into those weird moments which is something that does allow for this films plot to no only be unpredictable but also really fun as well with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Theo James as Hal and Bill Shelburn and Christian Convery as Young Hal and Bill. Also starring in this film is Tatiana Maslany as Lois Shelburn , Colin O'Brien as Petey Shelburn Jr. , Rohan Campbell as Ricky , Sarah Levy as Ida Zimmer , Adam Scott as Petey Shelburn Sr. , this films writer and director Osgood Perkins as Chip Zimmer , Tess Degenstein as Barbara , Danica Dreyer as Annie Wilkes , Laura Mennell as Hal's ex-wife and Elijah Wood as Ted Hammerman.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances with it being shocking that they didn't hire four sets of actors to play Hal and Bill and instead chose just to have the two actors with them both playing both roles and that is something that does work really well for this film as both of the actors manage to make both characters separate from one another and visually look different enough from one another that we the audience can easily tell them apart and while the rest of this films actors do indeed turn in some really good performances as well with the same thing also being true for Elijah Wood the best actor in this film is actually a tie between both Theo James and Christian Convery as while playing one character is hard enough there playing two characters at the same time with Theo playing the older version of the films main characters and Christian playing there younger counterparts which means that there jobs are now even harder as they keep there performances the same as each other to create continuity in the films performances something that both do with incredible ease with the acting that's in this film really being helped buy this films script as the the script for this film is just so good that all this films have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
The characters in this film to be frank aren't the best characters however that is something that could more a fault with the short story then it is this film. As with a short story you don't really have the time needed to fully develop your characters and we know from Longlegs that Osgood Perkins can create some really good characters when he wants to and yet because of the fact that he's adapting a short story he just can't create good characters as none of this films characters stand out as being particularly interesting or scary with the same thing also being true for the films main heroes as well as even tho there character arc is interesting the characters themselves just aren't that fun to watch with the worst offender of this being Petey Shelburn Jr. who despite the fact that he's acted really well by Colin O'Brien just isn't that interesting of a character with him being Hal's son which is also something that seems to be his whole personality as there's nothing to his character outside of the fact that his father is trying to stop this evil monkey from killing people and that's really it and that's not enough to make him an interesting an while his arc with Hal does mirror Hal's arc with Bill it's not done in a way that makes the characters interesting with all of this films characters being nothing more then one dimensional characters which is something that does make sense as the short stories writer Stephan King really can't write characters that are two dimensional and as this film is based off of one of his own short stories it makes sense that his characters be just as bland and uninteresting in the film adaptation.
Not only is this film based off of the short story of the exact same name with the short story originally being published in 1980 as a booklet that was included in Gallery magazine it was then revised and published again five years later in the Stephan King shorts collection called Skeleton Crew. With according the short stories Wikipedia page the short story is very vastly different then the version that we got in this film as for starters there's no Bill or Randy in the story it's just Hal and Petey with Hal instead being an only child who still does discover the monkey but after some killings and accidents happed one of which involves Hals best friend Jimmy Hal hides the money in a dry wall only for it still to reappear years later with Hal and Petey having to drive to Crystal Lake to leaving to drown in the lake itself none of which is present in this film which is understandable as that original ending does sound rather lame and not cinematic but given that the short story did receive a revision in 1985 by Stephan King himself it is possible that all of the things tat are in the film were then added into the short story or it's possible that what's listen on the short stories Wikipedia page does one from the revised version of the story and not the original form of the story but lets hope that Stephan King did make the story better as it doesn't sound like it's going to be all that scary of a read even in it's original short story format.
In what could be seen as being a wise move this films director Osgood Perkins did choose to add in humor to the story. Which is something that does make alot of sense as this is after all a story about a killer toy monkey so by all rights this should have alot of jokes in it and while it was done to make it stand out from all f the super dark serious Stephan King adaptations out there it is something that given it's premise does make alot of sense as there's no way that you can treat a story like this seriously given that it's killer is a toy monkey with him even saying in an interview with Empire "I took liberties like a motherf*****. They [Atomic Monster] had a very serious script. Very serious. I felt it was too serious, and I told them: 'This doesn't work for me. 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 sh** 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." which is something that does work for this film and while yes this film does have alot of humor in it none of it undercuts the tension of the scene rather it instead adds tension to the scene as we the audience know that something bad is going to happen and seeing the characters cope with that by telling joke is something that works really well in this film.
If last year was the year of really great horror films where almost every one that came out minus one or two was a great film. This year seems to be the complete opposite as so fay this year all of the horror films that have been released have firstly been films that see classic kids characters get turned into slasher villains but have also been really bad with this one actually being quite good and all of that comes down to the fact that they have a creative team that not only knows how to make a good movie but are also willing to take a chance and tell an original story with an original villain and not use a character that was created around one hundred years ago and while yes there is some merit to be found in those cheaply made films here it's also something that really does prove that if you want to see a good horror film then you don't look towards Sony or 20th Century Fox for example you look towards the more smaller studios as they are the ones that are taking chances on smaller scale films like this one which wouldn't be made by a major studio due to how out there it's main concept is but because of the fact that this film was made by a smaller studio it means that the makers of this film can go as out there with the film as they want to and still turn in a film that's as true to the director original vision as is humanly possible something that just wouldn't be possible as a major studio as they would have cut things out of this film and interfered with the making of this film in order to make it as marketable as is humanly possible.
Without giving to much away there are certain aspects of this film in regards to it's plot that could be seen as being predictable. This is something that does hurt the the characters arcs of both Hal and Bill as you know right away where this films is going with there characters arcs and not only does it go there it goes there the exact same way that you thought it would which despite it being a very well done arc in it's right does make it boring to watch as what's the point in watching something when you've not only worked out where it's going but the film also goes to that exact same place surely the wisest thing to do would be to turn it on it's head and make you think that it's going one way only for it instead to take a left turn and go another way that you never even thought of in the first place as that then also gives us the audience a reason to rewatch the film to see if we can spot any clues that might have been hidden in the film and yet by going to that exact conclusion it robs the film of any kind of replay ability factor as now we have no reason to rewatch or reply this movie as all of the films characters arcs are fairly easy to work out and this is something that could have been fixed with just a few rewrites of the script something that they did do as this final cut of the film wasn't the first time that they tried to get made and they even had a script in place when they brought on Osgood Perkins so the makers of this film aren't adverse to rewriting the films script which does make you wonder why they didn't do it here as they really could have fixed alot of the films issues if they did take the time to do a rewrite of this films script.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty one minuets. Which is a fairly solid running time for this film to have as this film really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that well as the film devotes a vast amount of it's running time just to setting up the plot when really the film should have sent no longer then ten minuets in setting up the rest of the film as this film doesn't have alot of running time to begin with and to rob it of even more time to tell it's story just by having a pointless prolog sequence that sets up the plot of the film means that now the film have to work twice as hard to get across all of the information that it needs to get across and still tell a good story in even less time then what it would have had if this film had cut down it's promo sequence by quite a bit and with the added running time the film would then be able to fully develop it's characters something that it desperately needed to do as the film doesn't rest on the plot being good as the films plot is as good as it's going to get rather it rests on the strength of the films characters which can't be that fully developed due to the fact that this film really is spending so much time of a prolog sequence that would have been more effective not only if it was spread out all throughout the film as this would make it more easier to digest but was also cut down to allow the other aspects of the film the time that they really do need to shine but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty one of the films more better aspects. As this is where this film got to be alot more fun to watch as this films kills are so over the top and so goofy that you can't help but laugh at them and fall in love with them all at the same time and it's during this films kills that the makers of this film really did take advantage of the fact that this films killer is a toy monkey and because of that they can go as over the top and as goofy with the kills as they want to as by proxy having a killer toy monkey is a funny idea and it would be really foolish of the makers of this film to not take advantage of that when it came to this films kills with it also being really hard to say just what exactly the best kill of this film even was as by rights they could all make a claim for that title as all of this films kills are just that good with the film alone being worth watching just to see just how over the top and how goofy looking alot of this films kills really are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall out of all the horror films that have been released this year thus far this film is easily the best of the bunch but given just how bad alot of those other horror films where that's not exactly a high bar to reach but credit where it's due this film knows what kind of film it is and isn't afraid to be nothing then that with this film also having some really good acting in it something that alot of those other horror just didn't have in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally of all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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