At first glance, horror comedy and Osgood Perkins don't feel like a natural fit. Sure, Perkins' filmography has been fairly dynamic in terms of genre, but all of his films have operated in different registers of suffocating darkness. His latest film The Monkey provides him with a terrific opportunity to make something lighter in tone without abandoning his love of all things macabre.
This is going to sound like a weird thing to say about a movie that centers around an indestructible toy monkey that causes horrifying accidental deaths to happen whenever somebody turns the key in its back, but The Monkey is a movie that Perkins is uniquely qualified to make. During his 51 years of life, Perkins has experienced a lot of death. Most notably, his parents Anthony Perkins and Berry Berenson died of AIDS and in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11 respectively. The pain of losing people at such a young age provides someone with a unique perspective on mortality and the wide array of manners in which life can come to an end. Since he's a horror filmmaker, he found a different kind of outlet to explore his grief: A sadistic splatter comedy that revels in the absurdity of this horrific universal experience.
As the twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (Theo James as an adult, Christian Convery as a teenager) that serve as the film's protagonists explain via voiceover narration at several points of the film, death is a completely random act that doesn't discriminate or show mercy. Some people die young, others die old. Some people die peacefully, others die horrifically. Some people die slowly over the course of many years, others go in an instant. This cruel, unavoidable fact of life is something that Perkins clearly knows all too well. He also knows that death and everything that encompasses it provides an exciting avenue in which comedy can thrive, which is the very reason that The Monkey manages to be great.
Perkins has a dry, absurdist sense of humor that fills The Monkey with a twisted glee. He understands that it's such a rare thing to see death viewed through a prism of sadistic silliness and takes great pleasure in going completely wild with the opportunity that he's been provided. There were several scenes-particularly during a funeral scene, a death scene that takes place in a motel pool and Elijah Wood's cameo as the arrogant stepdad to Hal's son (Colin O'Brien)-where I was pretty much doubled over from laughing from the insanely fucked up, hilarious shit he put on screen. Not everybody is going to be able to get on aboard with something that is simultaneously extremely silly, weird and gory-especially if they were expecting something that flirted with straight horror-, but I deeply admired and enjoyed the twisted farce that Perkins was able to put together.
Given how assured, demented and playful The Monkey is, I really hope that Perkins decides to return to horror comedies at some point in the future. This is the finest display of Perkins' skill as a filmmaker to date and it's almost kind of a shame that he's heading back to his grim register with his next feature Keeper-which is set to release in October. Alas, I had a ton of fun with The Monkey and I'm sure there are quite a few sick fucks out there who will too.
Grade: B+
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