“For the longest time there was nothing. But then, it appeared. A beast not from this earth.”
The team at Entertainment Weekly recently had the chance to chat with Osgood Perkins about his upcoming feature The Monkey. In addition to speaking with the director, some first-look images, which can be seen below, were also revealed.
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The Monkey is a short story written by Stephen King, featured in his 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story revolves around a seemingly innocuous toy—a monkey that claps its cymbals together. However, this toy carries a dark and sinister curse. The narrative explores themes of fate, childhood fears, and the consequences of past actions.
Perkins found King’s original short story to be conceptual, but there were touchstones he could expand upon to make a full-length movie — fatherhood being one. “I’m a father of three children. It’s a very important part of my life,” he says. “My relationship with my memory of my father and the impact of my father is a very important part of my psyche.” Brotherhood was another. The source material downplays the sibling dynamic, but Perkins partly used his own relationship with his brother, Elvis Perkins, the folk-rock musician, to add just a splash of inspiration for Hal and Bill. “We went through the same insane sh–,” he says of Elvis. “We responded to that insane sh– very differently. We’re very different people. Part of the process of living is finding your way back home.”
The film is scheduled to premiere in theaters on Feb. 21, 2025. Keep it locked to Horror News Network for more on The Monkey.
