"Everybody dies... And that's life."
This phrase, said by a mother to her two sons at a funeral and also adapted as a motto, is the foundation of the hilarious, bloody storyline of the—now—chameleonic director Oz "God" Perkins' new movie. Yes, for me, the son of Psycho's protagonist is already a kind of demigod to whom I pray every other day. After establishing certain seriousness—and much darkness—in his four previous films, we could sense that more macabre humor—thanks to the contribution of an exaggeratedly histrionic Nicolas Cage—was permeating his prior works as from the premiere of his preceding movie.
Is time for Perkins to show what this future genre icon is made of. If the director makes one thing clear, after delighting us just a few months ago with the premiere of the diabolic nightmare LONGLEGS I was referring to above, that's how good he can be at exploring himself in the creative field. Yes, it took him a while to find his own voice, but there's nothing more innovative and pleasant than witnessing a new way of watching and enjoying cinema reflected in the author's perception.
Unlike the bizarre glimpses conveyed by the energy of the unparalleled Cage, the antagonist of this new, twisted proposal—coded as an "indie-f*cked-up movie"—is a type of omnipresent figure that presents a disturbing symbolism related to the idea that, no matter the effort we make, we always inherit something from our parents and there's a destiny that's inherently tied to them. But Perkins, who could have mistakenly mixed comedy with horror—as many directors do—takes it easy and doesn't depict a pseudo-existentialist picture. Instead, he demonstrates an absolute efficiency in evoking the two hardest responses to inspire in cinema: making us laugh and feel disturbed. To him, death is as common as life. Or, at least, that's what Stephen King taught him when he decided to read his short story when he was just a young man full of dreams.
At the beginning of his new "Final destination feat. Chucky" experience, we can see a man—Adam Scott, Severance's protagonist, making a hilarious cameo—dressed as a merchant navy, entering a store to return a monkey toy he bought for his sons. It's one of those monkeys that smiles with his eyes wide open, holding a drum between his legs and two drumsticks with his hands to play disturbing music when the key on his back is turned. Pretty normal for kids to play with, right? We don't know who this person is or why he's here, but he is. To avoid spoiling ABSOLUTELY anything, I can say that this first scene has, together with some laughs, the first grand WTF moment of many.
From the onset of this initial insightful tone, Perkins tells us we are witnessing a total, absurd horror comedy narrated from Hal's perspective, this man's son and the younger twin. The character's voice-over, which is constant and conveys certain fatigue through his way of expressing the feelings he experiences throughout the whole film, doesn't provide us much depth regarding the matter. But who cares? I didn't come to reflect my doubts and worries as a human being in the film, I just want guts, crazy, ridiculous deaths and convincing performances. That's everything I was thinking about while watching The Monkey. Is it wrong to behave this way?
As in many of King's stories, emotional and psychological abuse come into play. Who wasn't a victim of bullying at school? I'm just asking the question in self-defense due to my painful experience regarding this matter. I was one and maybe many more people who are reading this also were. But what can be worse than experiencing bullying? Having your brother be the bully. Hal and Bill Shelburn are twins halted by the surprise that their father left them the famous monkey from the beginning in the basement, among other futile elements, after he passed away in strange circumstances that aren't revealed. But did he actually leave it for them or does this sort of entity have some otherworldly power and control? I'm going to be honest; I love Stephen King. Everything that comes out of his mind, added to the fact that Perkins seems to be directing to a different level, made me feel thrilled by the idea of a twisted, killer, artificial monkey.
And if we add that everything happens in a town called Casco, like my surname, the journey becomes much more personal. Casco could have been any other town, as many of the solitary passages that exist in North America's deepest parts, but it hides a secret that's only passed down from generation to generation, a family at a time. In the town, people seem… weird somehow. In some way, Hal, the actual protagonist, doesn't feel like part of Casco. I was more Hal than Bill, that's for sure. But what happens when all that hatred is repressed inside and ends up transforming you into the thing you hated so much? The movie toys with the idea of inherited evils and the resistance we put up to change the course of history. Nothing more ironic and brilliant than Osgood—son of the horror legend Anthony Perkins—introducing this concept.
After witnessing two pretty shocking deaths for the twins—and also for us—they decide to take different paths and bury the monkey. Once again, Perkins makes us part of the protagonist's journey to then shock us with a revelation and present a plot twist we probably didn't expect. Even though the revelation doesn't make our heads do a 360 spin, it feels appropriate to the proposal. This is one of his great virtues: he's never out of place and never loses focus. How many times have we complained about films that, within the blink of an eye, completely lose the essence of the story thanks to a particular moment or scene? We are talking about a sequence of deaths, one more unlikely and bloody than the other, caused by the repetitive sound of a monkey toy's drums!
The story follows Hal as an adult, who lets time pass by in his monotonous life. He has a job he doesn't want and sees how time goes by while his teenage son, who he visits once a year to prevent passing the curse on, transforms into an adult. From the introduction of the present time the characters live in; everything turns into a blood feast carried out with pretty clever ideas appropriate to label the movie as a "horror disguised in laughs." The director draws this mental border between both genres with simplicity and effectiveness. Undoubtedly, he's becoming a total legend of giving us iconic characters. What about you? Do you remember having a monkey in your home?
Posted on MARCH 3, 2024, 13:06 PM | UTC-GMT -3
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