The director of “Longlegs” has a Stephen King film in his bag next, and the first impression is a crazy mix of horror and humor
It’s always exciting when a group of very talented people work together on a new project, and with that in mind, there are some good reasons to be excited about it. The monkey. Featuring a stellar cast led by Theo James, the upcoming horror film is based on a short story by the legendary Stephen King, produced by genre master James Wan, and written and directed by Osgood Perkins – the filmmaker behind Long-leggedone of the most sensational films of the year.
If all of that doesn’t get you excited, let the brand new teaser trailer above get you over the finish line.
The monkey is published by Neon (the same company that is responsible for the distribution of Long-legged earlier this summer), and last weekend the studio released its latest genre film – Tilman Singer’s cuckoo – They decide to get a special first look at Osgood Perkins’ upcoming Stephen King film. Obviously it’s more of a “teaser” than a “trailer,” but despite its brevity, it does a surprisingly good job of conveying a cheeky tone.
An adaptation of the story of the same name (which is included in the 1985 Stephen King Omnibus Skeleton Crew), The monkey tells the story of identical twin brothers (Theo James) who become estranged from each other in adulthood after experiencing a traumatic childhood with multiple deaths seemingly due to the actions of an evil toy monkey. Based on the blood splatter and depraved circus music in the trailer, it doesn’t seem like the film will be short on scary moments, but the amusing shot of James removing his glasses, leaving the outline of them bloodied on his face, suggests there will be a few dark laughs as well.
In addition to Theo James, the star-studded horror film also stars Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Elijah Wood, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy, and production was quietly wrapped earlier this year after development was announced in May 2023. Perhaps the best news of all is that audiences won’t have to wait that long to see it, as the film will hit theaters in less than half a year. While we wait for the dates of a number of other Stephen King adaptations – including Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s LotMike Flanagan’s The life of ChuckFrancis Lawrence’s The long road and Edgar Wright’s The running man – we know that The monkey will be released in theaters on February 21, 2025.
This is a film that the CinemaBlend team is eagerly awaiting, so stay tuned for more news and updates on The monkeyand for a weekly summary of all the major happenings in the world of Stephen King, check out my column “The King Beat,” which goes live every Thursday.
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