‘The Monkey’ Director Teases Gory Stephen King Adaptation With Exploding Bodies

We’re still a little over a month away from Osgood Perkins‘ The Monkey hitting theaters, but promotion for the newest Stephen King adaptation is in full swing. Premiering on Feb. 21, the film focuses on twin brothers who stumble upon their father’s vintage toy monkey in an attic, and then bear witness to a string of horrifying deaths unfolding around them. According to Perkins, those horrifying deaths will include at least two people exploding in a smorgasbord of gore.

Speaking with Empire ahead of the release of The Monkey next month, the Longlegs director said that while the film is a horror movie, it also leans heavily into its comedic elements that border on the absurd. We’ve already seen one moment from the movie in an extended clip that was recently released (seen below), and Perkins says there’s lots more to come by way of exploding bodies that feature way more blood than is scientifically accurate.

“If you’re going for comedy then you’re going for extremes. Not subtlety. We are guilty of putting far more blood in our human bodies than is really in a human body. When someone explodes in this movie — and a couple of people do — there’s a lot of mess. All the death set-pieces were hard to do. They all have a Rube Goldbergian connectivity — this happens, then this happens, then this happens.”

Starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, and Christian Convery to name a few, The Monkey is an adaptation of the King tale that appeared in his 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew. Released by Neon, the film is rated R for “strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout, and some sexual references.” Honestly, we’d expect nothing less, as the film looks completely bonkers, and will no doubt provide another hit for Perkins following the success of last year’s Longlegs.

‘The Monkey’ Is a “Morbidly Surreal Horror Comedy”

While Longlegs may have been a down and dirty horror film that was the talk of the genre in 2024, don’t look for the same to be said of The Monkey. We’ve already mentioned that it borders on the comically absurd, but Perkins went one step further to say it’s so different from his previous film that audiences might be surprised, and for him, that’s an amazing feeling.

“I honestly feel f***ing great about [how different The Monkey is from Longlegs]. I can’t think of another morbidly surreal horror comedy that’s also heartwarming and redemptive and stars a bona-fide movie hunk. That’s the best news I can offer to people who liked Longlegs — we make all kinds. Why would anyone want to be fed the same meal every day?”

The Monkey won’t be the only film of Perkins’ that Neon distributes this year, as the studio is also set to release his horror film Keeper in 2025. Also starring Maslany, the film centers around a woman left alone in a cabin who encounters a malevolent force that reveals the disturbing secrets hidden within. Look for that one to hit theaters on Oct. 3, and be sure to check out The Monkey when it makes its North American debut on Feb. 21.

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Adapted from the story of the same name by Stephen King, The Monkey is a horror mystery film that follows twin brothers Hal and Bill, who discover a mysterious monkey toy in their father’s attic that seems tied to several grizzly deaths. After years apart, the twins learn that similar deaths have begun again and must reunite to destroy the monkey.

Release Date

February 21, 2025

Main Genre

Horror