Stephen King’s “The Monkey” was used as the cover art of his second collection novel Skeleton Crew. The paperback itself was used in a reading ad where Michael J. Fox is holding it. Something about it just looked creepy even though the toy itself isn’t all harmless.
King published the story in 1980 in which a monkey toy doll with cymbals has evil powers. Filmmaker Kenneth J. Berton would basically use the same premise for his low-budget obscure 1984 movie The Devil’s Gift, which was later recut into Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders which should only be remembered for Ernest Borgnine looking like he worked one day as he was just required to sit on a couch. Borgnine plays a retired writer who tells his young grandson very dark age inappropriate stories.
The movie is also famous for being the last aired episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original run. It wasn’t the final episode but the airing was delayed due to a rights issue, even though I’m surprised it hadn’t fallen into public domain by the time. Regardless, both “The Monkey” and The Devil’s Gift are variations of the classic horror story “The Monkey’s Paw” where the wishes of characters have dire and dangerous consequences.
The moral of that W.W. Jacobs’ story is the same as the Rolling Stone’s song, “You can’t always get what you want.” And with all stories, TV shows and movies that deal with wishes, there are always issues. The rights to the story have been floating around Hollywood for decades and a feature-film adaptation has been in development hell for years. That was until Osgood Perkins was hired to direct and rewrite the script. James Wan would act as a producer.
So, when you have the son of Anthony Perkins directing a movie based on a King story produced by horror filmmaker Wan, it should be the trifecta. And for the first 15-20 minutes, it feels like this is going to be a devilishly creepy movie. Except there’s a huge problem that soon becomes evident as Perkins decided to add too much of a comedic element to the story.
Unfortunately in the last 20-30 years, comedy has been downgraded to just a bunch of people yelling, screaming and being jerks to each other. It’s not funny. But then again, what do you expect with Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle and Shane Gillis being hailed as great comics? George Carlin and Richard Pryor used to “punch up.” Now, comics have become the 21st Century bullies constantly berating people no matter what their issues are.
It’s really just a product of the ugliness of social media. We’d rather laugh at an morbidly obese person in a motorized cart at Wal-Mart about to fall over and possibly hurt themselves. Instead of helping, we take a picture and post it online.
Perkins played the geeky David Kidney in the comedy Legally Blonde where Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods helped him get some revenge against the stuck-up mean girls. I don’t know if Perkins himself went through the same. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t easy with all he’s been through. His father died of AIDS-related complications in 1992 and Anthony’s sexuality was tabloid fodder for decades. So, being a teenager at the time, Perkins was probably subjected to a lot of taunts and jokes.
Then, on Sept. 11, 2001, his mother, Berry Berenson, would die along with others during the attacks on the World Trade Center. She was on American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower. So, Perkins himself said he used some of his family trauma in the movie. Most writers often do. Pryor himself did an entire bit in his 1982 concert film Live on Sunset Strip about his decent into drug addiction and his suicide attempt where he set himself on fire. It was funny. But it was because Pryor made us laugh with him, not at him.
Perkins here doesn’t really seem to get the right tone. He’s trying for a Tucker & Dale vs. Evil feel but it feels more like Sharknado as a character pops up on screen, says a few lines and then meets a gruesome gory end that even Quentin Tarantino would laugh at. A shotgun blast even with 12 gauge 00 ammunition won’t blow someone apart. Even hand grenades don’t do that. Also, someone being electrocuted in a pool wouldn’t be blown to smithereens either.
And I know, people are saying it’s funny because the exaggeration is there and seeing Theo James as Hal Shelburn freak out every time is supposed to be funny. No, it isn’t. James also plays his twin brother, Bill. There’s also a long prologue where Tatiana Maslany plays their mother, Lois, who is the obligatory Janet Leigh role. But Maslany doesn’t even seem to be interested in the role to give a damn.
Also, the prologue is all wrong. It’s supposed to be set in 1999 but looks more like 1989 with the styles and fashions. Also, how are people going to carry boxes of bananas through a school without faculty/staff noticing? Hal is the subject of bullying at his school which you think is going to go somewhere but it doesn’t as Bill is the ringleader. This movie falls apart before it even gets going.
Also Elijah Woods pops up as a wealthy self-help guru who is the stepfather of Hal’s son, Petey (Colin O’Brien). But nothing happens there either. The structure of the movie is wrong. The pacing is off and the ending just teeters to a conclusion. People overact and before they meet silly deaths that seem more like they’re from the mind of a creepy teen whose parents need to take notice.
As one character in the movie keeps saying, “Shit, man, that sucks!” It sure does, man. It sure does.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 