Stephen King is apparently very pleased by what he's seen of the upcoming horror film The Monkey from Longlegs director Osgood Perkins. Based on his short story of the same name, The Monkey promises to be a bonkers and darkly comedic thrill ride featuring Theo James playing twin brothers fighting against a cymbal-smashing toy monkey that carries a deadly curse.
King took to his Threads account a few days ago to praise the movie, calling it "batsh*t insane," in a good way, of course.
"As someone who has indulged in batsh*ttery from time to time, I say that with admiration," he joked.
The author says that audiences have "never seen anything like" it, and considering what Perkins did with Longlegs last year, I think it's safe to believe him on this one. In 2024, Perkins' disturbing serial killer thriller featuring Nicolas Cage as a menacing Satanic murderer grossed over $100 million and became the highest-grossing indie movie of the year.
As a fan of The Blackcoat's Daughter, I've long felt that Perkins is a director to watch, and Longlegs further helped to cement his legacy. Now it appears that The Monkey is shaping up to be one of 2025's best horror movies, and perhaps it will break a few records of its own. Knowing that King approves of this one is especially exciting since the author tends to be brutally honest about adaptations of his work.
He famously disliked Stanley Kubrick's take on The Shining, despite the movie being hailed as a horror classic and one of the scariest films of all time.
The Monkey has been generating hype for months now, especially coming off of how successful and terrifying Longlegs ended up being. Perkins' latest film doesn't look like it will be quite as serious and unsettling, however, as the official trailer teased a more comedic tone.
That said, expect plenty of gore and over-the-top brutality as the trailer alone made it clear that this toy monkey is to be feared. Some of the death sequences teased in the video show someone getting a bowling ball smashed onto their face, a woman jumping into an electrified swimming pool, and more.
Besides James, The Monkey stars Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy. And like with Longlegs and The Blackcoat's Daughter, Perkins both wrote and directed the film. He also directs another upcoming Neon horror release, Keeper, in which Maslany stars.
The Monkey will officially hit theaters on February 2. For those interested in reading the short story before venturing out to the cinemas, it was published in his short story collection Skeleton Crew.