The first teaser for the Longlegs director’s new horror film is a scary foretaste of one of Stephen King’s scariest stories
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The best horror movie trailers should get under your skin and give little away. In an era of half-baked teasers, The Monkey is a triumphant example of a successful insight – and it certainly helps that Longlegs director Osgood Perkins and producer James Wan are on board in an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Monkey.
As you can see above, the teaser for “The Monkey” focuses on the titular primate, which in this case is a drum-playing monkey toy.
Not much else is shown in the 45-second teaser, but the ominous percussion beat accompanied by the eerie-sounding summer fair music of “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside” should be enough to make The Monkey etch itself in your mind until its release next year. A brief interlude at the end, however, reveals a human element to the proceedings – and it’s suitably blood-soaked. A slightly modified teaser was shown in theaters this weekend ahead of Cuckoo.
The synopsis of The Monkey reads: “When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths begins. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.”
“The Monkey,” which was published in its final form in King’s seminal 1985 short story collection “Skeleton Crew,” also follows two brothers who discover a cursed monkey toy in a family home, suggesting that this will be a fairly accurate adaptation of at least the source material’s plotline. While we don’t want to spoil the surprise here, the sound of the musical instrument banging in the teaser for “The Monkey” is sure to be bad news for anyone who hears it.
It is the next upcoming project for Perkins, whose latest film, Longlegs – starring Nicolas Cage as the titular serial killer – grossed over $90 million at the box office.
Speaking to Discussing Film, Perkins said The Monkey “couldn’t be more different” from Longlegs.
“The tone is comical, it’s touching, it’s sentimental, it’s disgusting, it’s mischievous, it’s quite funny,” Perkins teased.
The new horror film, which is scheduled to be released on February 21, 2025, stars Theo James as Bill and Hal, Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk and Elijah Wood.
For more information, check out the latest on upcoming horror movies that will scare the crap out of you in 2024.
