Stephen King's 'The Monkey': What to expect from Theo James-starrer
18 Jan 2025

Theo James, who is known for his roles in White Lotus and Time Traveler's Wife, is making his horror debut with The Monkey.

The film, produced by James Wan and directed by Osgood Perkins, is an adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 short story.

In the film, James plays twin brothers Bill and Hal who discover their father's old monkey toy in the attic.

Here's all to know.

'The Monkey' plot revolves around a killer monkey
Plot and cast

The official logline for The Monkey reads: "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."

The film also stars Elijah Wood, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy in key roles.

'The Monkey' marks Perkins's return to Neon Films
Director's take

Perkins, who previously set a record at Neon Films with his highest-grossing film Longlegs, returns to the distributor with The Monkey.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Perkins described the film as his most comedic feature yet.

"It's feeling more like an old John Landis movie or a Joe Dante movie or a Robert Zemeckis movie," Perkins said. "I saw an opportunity to make a wry, absurdist comedy about death."

Perkins's approach to 'The Monkey' and future projects
Director's insight

Perkins further elaborated on his approach to The Monkey.

He said, "At the end of the day, if you want to reduce it, it's the haunted toy or evil toy subgenre."

"And I couldn't imagine doing a serious one of those. To me, it rang utterly false to approach it that way, so I just went in the other direction."

The film releases theatrically on February 21.