The Monkey

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Is this a movie about the vampire monkey in Amazon Prime Video?

Vampire Bat: You know that there is no real vampire monkey.

Vampire Owl: Why would monkeys be out of the equation?

Vampire Bat: Because there have been no vampires among them.

Vampire Owl: I believe that I had seen one during the last war.

Vampire Bat: That was a zombie monkey with some real bad teeth.

Vampire Owl: But he looked like a classic vampire.

Vampire Bat: That was before him losing those teeth.

Vampire Owl: So, they are all restricted to the zombie area?

Vampire Bat: Yes, zombies have almost everything, even the most impossible ones.

[Gets a paneer fried rice and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: In 1999, Captain Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) tries to take a wind-up drum-playing toy monkey to an antiques shop, but the toy plays a drum, triggering a chain reaction that ends with a harpoon gun brutally the shop owner, and after attempts to destroy the toy, it is seen that the captain disappears without trace. It is seen that after making an impact in the life of Hal Shelburn and Bill Shelburn (Theo James in a double role) during the childhood, and causing the death of their mother Lois Shelburn (Tatiana Maslany) and babysitter Annie Wilkes (Danica Dreyer) in the childhood leading to their disposal of the doll, it seems to come back after a very long time. It was something which they had from their father, and now Hal gets the call of Bill regarding the same at a time when he is separated from his wife, and is almost losing the custody of their only son Petey Shelburn (Colin O’Brien) much to the dismay of both the father and the child. They decide to go a final trip together for a week, as they are going to be cut down from each other.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After the death of his aunt Ida Zimmer (Sarah Levy), with whom the twin brothers were staying post the demise of their mother, he is forced to go to her home and see if there is the monkey doll in that house. He realizes that his aunt had also gone through a brutal death, like all the deaths which the money doll had caused. He also realizes that there have been many other brutal deaths in the area, and some of them seemed to have caused with no real reason at all. He understands the seriousness of the situation and tries to keep his son away, but Petey only gets further mad that he was not told that his father had a twin brother. Hal was always considered to be a single child by him and his mother, and despite having asked about the family tree, nothing was told at all. Barbara (Tess Degenstein), a real estate agent who guides them with further process is also brutally killed as a shotgun falls down, and this leaves them caught in the village pending enquiry from the police department. What would this mean to the twins, and what is happening with that missing doll?

The defence of The Monkey :: The story about a supernaturally affected or cursed toy monkey causing deaths is rather unusual compared to the usual, and also memorable for the image of that particular toy. The mixture of violent horror scenes with dark humour makes an impact, even when they come out of nowhere and disappears without trace. It can be said that the inventive and twisted death sequences combine different elements very well. As much as it is an adaptation of the short story by Stephen King, it also reminds us of the story, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs, which became part of the Mahatma Gandhi University of Kottayam syllabus as part of the common English paper. The movie has included its own elements, developing the short story, and the emotional side becomes good as it gets towards the end, and the final scenes are quite memorable with a pale horseman and the school bus. The monkey imagery remains effective as we keep seeing it in a dual mode, with the side of horror taking the front seat. This also gives the feeling that we have the kind of supernatural from where there is no escape.

The claws of flaw :: The movie keeps losing strength in between, as it seems to focus on the main characters while seemingly avoiding most of the other things including the supporting characters who have also affected this particular world. There seems to be the feeling that the movie might not be that appealing to the audience of this part of the world, as its focus on the supernatural and its origins, as well as journey is rather less developed compared to the effect that it creates. Taken right out of Stephen King’s short story with the same name, this could have surely done better with ease, and that was one base material which could have gone many ways, and supported a lot of further extension on the way. The seriousness of the original movie is lost in some of the humour which is used here, and when absurdity comes in front of horror with that comic side, the supernatural power is often lost in the silliness – being dumb is surely not always welcome. When there is too much focus on brutality and comedy by losing the original horror power, the overall strength is surely lost, and the slow pacing in between and the lack of power with emotions also struggle.

The performers of the soul :: The movie has some strength with its leading cast, even though it never really feels like a performance-oriented movie. The focus is more on the image of the monkey and the deaths, with focus more on the terror that it creates on the characters as much as it does on the regular audience who finds the shock. In between, the characters have to work with some dark humour and the emotional effect, both of which never really have a permanent effect here – it does not stay with us for that long, and it is evident from the fact that not many recommendations of this particular horror movie came into the groups of horror genre admirers that we know from around this side of movie love. Theo James is here in the lead, and as he remains the one who makes the impact in two characters, the others are of not much of a relevance here. The different modes of humour and fear are pretty much safe with him, while Christian Convery who plays the younger versions follows well. Colin O’Brien is the next one to be relevant and the character is also blended in well enough.

How it finishes :: The movie had immense potential, which is never really used, but remains a nice mysterious horror movie with a seemingly invincible killer toy at the centre, and some humour that works well. But coming out of a very serious and terrifying short story, this one loss some charm in the form of dark humour and gory scenes which turn not that scary in the process. One has to wonder why humour has to come in along with absurd deaths instead of following the Final Destination mode, which would have given this better strength. But there is fun for sure, and one cannot easily doubt that here. But we keep wondering how this movie could have been better, while enjoying the same, especially because you see how interesting scenes of childhood and later pass on without expanding the same, from those bullying moments to the later rural scenes. Maybe, we can hope for a better sequel, with a classic developed story from this one with less humour, making the world more serious as much as emotional.

Release date: 21st February 2025
Running time: 98 minutes
Directed by: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Wolf Hour

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am not happy about the fact that the werewolves are getting more attention.

Vampire Bat: It is pretty much clear that they are not referring to those creatures.

Vampire Owl: I don’t think that it could be about other wolves.

Vampire Bat: I don’t see why not. You can refer to animated or survival movies.

Vampire Owl: There is only one kind of wolf which is interesting for the movie-makers.

Vampire Bat: The season of the werewolves is over. They have lost it.

Vampire Owl: Such monsters are never out of the equation.

Vampire Bat: They survived in both Underworld and Twilight because the movies had vampires playing the bigger roles.

Vampire Owl: I have news that they are looking for something more.

Vampire Bat: Well, I can assure you that it is not about this particular movie.

[Gets a pineapple cake and three cups of white tea].

What is the movie about? :: June Leigh (Naomi Watts) is no longer what she used to be, as she lives alone in a small apartment in the middle of the city, in the shadows of the books she had written a long time ago, and some of her words had turned her family against her – the rebellious nature had made her an outcast, but she still lives in the apartment owned by her grandmother who is no more. The year is 1977, and there are lots of uncertainties, especially in the neighbourhood where she is living. It is not supposed a nice place for a good-looking lady to live alone, as she is indeed troubled by many things, and the feeling that she is being stalked is just one of them. There seems to be looting and other acts of criminal activity, including arson and murder happening at parts of the neighbourhood, and June keeps herself inside the apartment room at all times, only meeting a grocery delivery boy named Freddie (Kelvin Harrison Jr) whom she trusts to take the trash outside without having to get out or take it down with a rope.

So, what happens with the events here? :: She is supposed to finish her manuscript and publish a book, because she had taken an advance, but that doesn’t really happen as expected, with her burning many pages which she had written. She calls her old friend Margot (Jennifer Ehle) who genuinely tries to help her with the needed support along with some money, but she turns her away soon enough. There is someone who keeps calling her on the buzzer at all times, but doesn’t respond, and she feels that someone wants to break in. She tries to call the police, but Officer Blake (Jeremy Bobb) who comes there is not interested in treating it as a genuine threat. But she can’t stop feeling something terrible happening outside, and even though she wants some money from the publishers, decides to stay inside the room. But things are getting more terrible outside, and with her psychological problems also seemingly getting worse, she would need to think about it deeply and come up with a solution.

The defence of The Wolf Hour :: Naomi Watts’ perfect one lady show makes the movie itself rise above all the possible limitations in a world of confusion and chaos running through the background. The atmosphere created here is also prefect, and we live with the lady within that room, and it nicely maintains two out of the three classical Aristotelian unities of place time and action, with only the second one moving out of line. It does have one principal action and you will find that it exist in a single physical location, the apartment which the protagonist never wants to leave – the only other places we see are in the television interviews of the same person coming in as a flashback, and after the end of action. You have the opportunity to go through the life of a strange, eccentric writer, proving yet again that the most creative writers and other artists can have a certain amount of madness in them, or the society might think so. You also see how Naomi Watts rises to become the character with such ease that we can’t expect anyone else in her place here.

The claws of flaw :: Even though there is the idea given, this is not really that mystery thriller with a touch of horror to go with it. You will feel a little bit misguided regarding the same, as drama keeps on having the upper hand. But whenever the movie struggles, and it does on a number of occasions, there is Naomi Watts to lift it a long way up, and it seems to have made the tale go lazy at times. The movie title also leaves the people confused, and even the description for the film given in different websites are not really accurate, as it stays away from the soul as well as the essence of the movie. It is also quite slow, and you have to admire the leading actress’ skill in not letting us feel the drag much. There could have been many more things in this film, and the fear could have been more real and close to life – there could have been someone psychotic behind the main character or even something supernatural in nature, but this film leaves all of those possibilities behind to make this one just the drama and nothing else.

Performers of the soul :: Naomi Watts is once again brilliant in playing this kind of a role. She had been in an isolated area during a deadly winter storm in the highly underrated thriller movie Shut In which had a twist to remember – the feeling of being stalked or haunted was there too, but here, it feels more psychological, and it gives her more opportunities as almost everything in this movie is about her, even more than any other previous flick. If you go further back, you had Funny Games, where she was taken hostage by psychopaths, and the danger was real at that time. So, she is no stranger to the genre or with playing with this kind of setting – the same is reflected really well here too. Well, for someone who was in The Ring and King Kong, this one is smaller kind of danger, but the scope for performance never gets small. Jennifer Ehle who plays her friend also contributes nicely when she is there. Among the other characters, Kelvin Harrison Jr plays his role nicely to be noted the most, and others also follow in this all-Naomi movie focusing on each element of her.

How it finishes :: The movie seems to show a certain dark side of living through the 1970s in the Unites States of America, especially in the urban area – it is something that would be different even if we consider the scenario in our world in this part of the world, because we remember the 1990s to be much different from the situation we have now. It makes us feel the danger, as well as the imagination of the main character, and we can feel the strange thoughts of the character running through there. We get to have a deep character study of a woman with a magnificent past, someone who let her insecurities take everything out of her, and it becomes another stage of bildungsroman for her, even though quite late in her career. The Wolf Hour is to be watched while taking the same into consideration, instead of what is seen or what is heard – what you might have thought about the film earlier won’t count as you go through this journey as it is indeed different from your thoughts about a mystery thriller.

Release date: 6th December 2019
Running time: 99 minutes
Directed by: Alistair Banks Griffin
Starring: Naomi Watts, Emory Cohen, Jennifer Ehle, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Jeremy Bobb, Brennan Brown