In this episode of News from the Dead Zone, I’ll be dealing with two things from the opposite ends of the age spectrum: My ramblings about a very R-rated adaptation, The Monkey, and news of an unexpected book coming up this fall that is targeted at 6-8 year-olds that was announced recently.
It’s hard to find the words to describe Ozgood Perkins’ film inspired by King’s 1980 short story “The Monkey.” There’s never been another adaptation remotely like it. Nothing to compare it with, although it’s in the same “camp” as Creepshow, so to speak. As King said, “It’s batshit insane. As someone who has indulged in batshittery from time to time, I say that with admiration.” I can’t disagree!
There have been parodies of King’s work in the past, but this loose adaptation doesn’t quite fall into that category. There is a somewhat serious although very thin story wrapped up in some of the most savage and imaginative death sequences I’ve ever seen. One theme is that this is “like life,” which is subject to random and chaotic incidents, but rarely anything like what you’ll see on the screen for these 90 minutes.
I hadn’t read the short story in many years so, in preparation for seeing the film on Thursday evening, I pulled out Skeleton Crew, which features the eponymous simian on its cover. The story is longer than I remembered, for one thing, and has some regrettable word choices in describing the toy. It’s about Hal and his older brother Bill (they’re not twins, although in the film Bill claims supremacy because he was first out of the womb), whose absent father was a merchant mariner (not a pilot). The brothers grew up with Uncle Will (not Chip) and Aunt Ida after their mother died. Bill is a bit of a dick as a child but as an adult he’s pretty benign.
When the monkey Hal and Bill discovered among their father’s effects in the attic clapped its cymbals together (instead of beating a drum—Perkins says this change was made because Disney trademarked the cymbal-clanging monkey after Toy Story 3) someone died. Unlike in the movie, these deaths weren’t limited to people—a cat, a fly and a lot of fish were among its victims. Bill has two sons in the story and lives with his wife in Arnette, Texas, where he works for Texas Instruments, making him a possible colleague of Stu Redman from The Stand.
That’s more or less where the similarities end. Perkins turns the story into a revenge tale. The monkey was possibly responsible for their mother’s death in King’s version, but here Bill blames Hal for it and launches a lifelong mission to retrieve the monkey and use it to destroy his brother. He claims that the person who turns the key is never the one to die, but it’s also impossible to target someone. As in life, death is random.
The movie opens with a scene that sets the stage for what’s to come. Hal and Bill’s father, played by a jittery Adam Scott (Severance), is trying to get a pawnshop owner to take the monkey off his hands. The monkey does what the monkey does, leading to a highly unlikely and imaginative Rube Goldberg incident that takes guts. Literally.
Thus begins a steady stream of gory and over-the-top deaths that seem to be lampooning some of the more outré scenes in low-budget horror films. Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame) must have had a blast trying to figure out how to kill off people in the most creatively violent ways imaginable. The oièce de résistance is another Rube Goldberg killing near the end that makes a perfect bookend to a threatened incident early in the movie. The final deaths were almost too much, a groan-inducing scene of mayhem that was, at the same time, mordantly funny.
Theo James (The Diplomat) as the adult Hal has to weave his way through the movie as the one person who truly understands what’s at risk while simultaneously trying to cope with all the weird shit that’s going on around him. He’s gotten so used to being spattered by body parts and blood that he seems insane. He’s estranged from his son because he knows that proximity to loved ones brings danger. The sins of Hal’s father were visited upon him and Bill—he wants to break that chain.
Hal now sees Petey for a week every year on his birthday, but his ex-wife’s new husband (played by a bonkers Elijah Wood), a self-help guru, claims he’s going to forcibly adopt Petey after the current visitation. Hal is too wishy-washy to object. This puts Hal and Petey together for the second part of the film, with Hal trying to shield his son from the chaos accelerating around them while trying desperately to connect with him. There is a death pandemic occurring in Casco, Maine, with at least one and sometimes several inexplicable incidents happening every day. A group of cheerleaders starts showing up at each death scene, leading to an oddball payoff.
Is it a horror movie? Kinda…kinda not. There’s very little build up of suspense or tension which makes it an uneven viewing experience. Although horrible things happen, they happen randomly. It’s horrific but not horror and a little too shallow in terms of character development to be truly effective.
There were a couple of humorous asides, like the “guns don’t kill people” poster visible after a gun did just that, on its own, and the bit about the person who was bitten by a cobra…in Maine, and yet the movie felt like it wanted to be funnier. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’d be tempted to watch it again.
I haven’t been to the cinema often in the past five years, so I opted for a DBOX seat, not sure what to expect. It was mildly effective (the seat shook every time the monkey’s baton fell, for example) but also distracting and I’m not sure I’d recommend it. And there was a time when I might have been all in on the $50 Monkey-themed popcorn bucket, but no longer!
The cast includes some alums from previous adaptations. Laura Mennell, who plays Hal’s ex, was Charlotte Cross on Haven. Colin O’Brien, who plays Hal’s son Petey, was young Craig in Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (he was born in the community where I live). A character named Annie Wilkes is one of the early casualties.
And while King does not cameo in this film, there is a directorial cameo, with Oz Perkins playing Uncle Chip, muttonchop sideburns and all. He’s a swinger whose demise is particularly gruesome. Tatiana Maslany, who was so memorable in Orphan Black, has a nice but small role as Hal and Bill’s mother. The scene where she explains life and death to her sons is just as odd as everything else in the movie! Let’s dance!
This apparently wasn’t true for all screenings, but after the credits I saw a surprise trailer for Perkins’ upcoming movie Keeper, which also stars Maslany.
Adding to the possibly upcoming adaptation list, King offered James Ashcroft the rights to Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream for $1 after admiring The Rule of Jenny Pen.
The announcement of King’s collaboration with Maurice Sendak on a re-imagined version of Hansel and Gretel came as a surprise. The 48-page book, which will be published on September 2, 2025, originated from Sendak’s estate. (Sendak died in 2012.) King’s words will be complemented by sketches Sendak drew for set and costume designs for a 1997 production of the Humperdinck opera adaptation of the classic fairy tale.
“When I was asked if I might be interested in writing a new interpretation of Hansel and Gretel, … I was interested,” King said. “When I saw the pictures themselves, I resolved to give it a try. Two of his pictures in particular spoke to me: One was of the wicked witch on her broom with a bag of kidnapped children riding behind her; the other was of the infamous candy house becoming a terrible face. I thought, ‘This is what the house really looks like, a devil sick with sin, and it only shows that face when the kids turn their backs. I wanted to write that!’ To me, it was the essence of this story and, really, all fairy tales: a sunny exterior, a dark and terrible center, brave and resourceful children. In a way, I have been writing about kids like Hansel and Gretel for much of my life.”
In addition to King’s version of the story, the book will contain an introduction from him. Executive editor Megan Ilnitzki called the book “a timely and timeless dialogue between Mr. Sendak, Mr. King, and Brothers Grimm that transcends time, space, and even death. Much like the oeuvres of Mr. King and Mr. Sendak, Hansel and Gretel champions the undeniable strength, bravery, and resilience of children in the face of the horror and terror of the world.”
Signed copies of Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences are still available from Village Books in The Woodlands. Be sure to specify if you’d like a dedication and/or inscription on the order form. A new edition, Stephen King: His Life, Work, and Influences (Young Readers’ Edition), came out last September, which you can also order from Village Books.
Keep an eye out on the Lividian Publications patreon for news of another King-related chapbook..
