Movie · 2025 · Horror, Comedy · 1h 37m · R · English
Curator score: 1.3/10 (720.9K ratings)
Everybody dies. And that's fucked up.
Overview
When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.3/10
IMDb: 5.9/10
Letterboxd: 2.63/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 6.0/10
Director
Osgood Perkins
Production
Atomic Monster, C2 Motion Picture Group, Range Media Partners, Oddfellows Entertainment, The Safran Company, Stars Collective
Cast
Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Osgood Perkins, Nicco Del Rio, Zia Newton, Kingston Chan, Laura Mennell, Corin Clark, Tess Degenstein, Beatrix Perkins, Danica Dreyer, Dianne Greenwood, Shafin Karim, Lumen Beltran
Where to watch
Hulu
Curator Review
Verdict
A gleefully dumb, splattery horror-comedy with a mean streak and a lot of cartoonish death gags. It works best as a disposable crowd-pleaser for viewers who want absurdity over suspense, but the thin story and uneven tone may leave horror fans wanting more bite.
Best for
fans of Final Destination-style kill chains
viewers who like horror-comedy with a juvenile, self-aware edge
audiences in the mood for outrageous practical-gag mayhem
people who enjoy cursed-object stories with a satirical streak
Skip if
you want serious dread or sustained tension
you need strong character development
you dislike broad, goofy humor in horror
you prefer gore that feels especially inventive or extreme
Overview
The Monkey plays like a splatter-prank: a cursed toy, a family curse, and a steady escalation of absurd deaths. Osgood Perkins leans into the joke rather than the terror, so the movie’s main pleasure is watching it commit to being ridiculous with a straight face.
Worth noting
That approach gives it a mischievous energy, but it also keeps the emotional stakes at arm’s length. The estranged-brother setup and family trauma are there, yet the film is most alive when it’s staging elaborate, mean-spirited punchlines around the monkey’s appearances.
Bottom line
If you’re in the right mood, it’s a brisk, nasty little diversion with a cult-movie vibe. If you’re hoping for the kind of atmospheric unease Perkins can do elsewhere, this is more of a lark than a nightmare.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Killian (3.5★) · 24171 likes
I’m sorry but what does this have to do with Robbie Williams
drew gooden (2.5★) · 18230 likes
every time the monkey was on screen I pointed to amanda and whispered “that’s the monkey” so she would know that it was the monkey.
jonathan fujii (3★) · 11984 likes
Fuck - Robbie Williams Ape
Marry - Caesar from Planet of the Apes
Kill - this piece of shit monkey from the monkey