Could this be Theo James’ weirdest role yet? Fresh from appearing in Guy Ritchie’s gory Netflix gun-fest The Gentlemen, he’s now starring in Osgood Perkins’ Stephen King adaptation of The Monkey - for which the trailer has just dropped.
The premise is just as bonkers as King fans might hope. Based on the short horror story of the same name (from King’s 1985 book Skeleton Crew), the film stars James as twin brothers Hal and Bill, who discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic.
Naturally, this discovery sparks a spate of gruesome deaths, so the brothers throw the toy away and get on with their lives.
“But when the mysterious deaths begin again,” the show’s logline teases, “the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them."
There’s a lot of talent in front of and behind the screen on this one: Elijah Wood and Tatiana Maslany also appear, while Saw and Insidious co-creator James Wan has been brought on as a producer.
The film’s director, Osgood Perkins (the brains behind the horror film Longlegs), previously described the film to Bloody Disgusting as "sorta like if Robert Zemeckis had just a little bit of acid and made a Stephen King picture about a monkey toy". And yes, the trailer does look like that, plus of course, with some gore layered on top.
Plenty to look forward to, then - and the film itself will be out on February 21, 2025. Not long to wait until we see some monkey business.
