Osgood Perkins, the director of the horror sensation “Longlegs,” is returning next year with a new film: “The Monkey,” and the teaser trailer has leaked online.
After its incredible viral marketing and unbelievable enthusiastic response, Longlegs lived up to the hype as one of the best films of 2024.
It’s only been a month since the film’s release, but Perkins already has a new neon horror film in the works: The Monkey, an adaptation of Stephen King’s terrifying short story about – you guessed it – a cursed toy monkey.
The film is scheduled to hit theaters on February 21, 2025, and those who saw Trap or Cuckoo over the weekend were able to get a sneak peek – this teaser has since leaked online.
It’s a disturbing teaser that features the toy monkey drumming while crazy circus music plays. We get a brief glimpse of Theo James’ character, looking bloodied and terrified, before the title card and release date are revealed.
“Seen the teaser trailer for The Monkey before Cuckoo. It’s awesome, a real teaser trailer and it makes excellent use of the creepy image of the cymbal monkey. Oz Perkins + Stephen King = bring it on,” one user responded. “The Monkey! What a fun little teaser! Osgood Perkins is a madman,” posted another.
What we know about the monkey
Here’s the official synopsis for “The Monkey”: “When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths occurs around them.
“The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, even though they grow apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths start again, the brothers must come together again to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.”
According to Perkins, it “couldn’t be less like Longlegs… It’s going to feel more like Misery or Creepshow or Gremlins or American Werewolf,” he told Bloody Disgusting.
“It’s like if Robert Zemeckis had a LITTLE acid and made a Stephen King movie about a monkey toy. To me, that’s the movie that kids and their parents would most want to watch together.”
Christian Convery, best known from the Netflix series Sweet Tooth, will play the twins as children, while James will take on dual roles as adults. The film also stars Elijah Wood, She-Hulk’s Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy.
In the meantime, read our rankings of the best horror movies of all time, and check out our guides to Smile 2, 28 Years Later, and other new films hitting theaters this month.
