"The Monkey" - Review

Twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (Theo James) grew up with a monkey on their backs. When they grow up estranged, Hal is deliberately keeping away from his son Petey (Colin O'Brien) and keeping his head down; but during his week with him he receives a call from Bill, telling him that The Monkey is back and they are the only ones who can do something about it. And they'd better act fast, because people tend to start dying when that monkey is around...

This was funny, a pitch black screwball whackadoodle comedy which reads like Osgood Perkins wanted to lighten up a little after making "Longlegs" (which still absolutely rules); so he smoked a couple of joints and made a "Final Destination" movie. It embraces the absurdity of not just its premise, but death itself, becoming about the insanity and randomness of mortality as well on its road trip father son adventure. The gore is fantastic, and the entire film is shot just like "Longlegs" (which I still prefer, but that's me), which adds a further deadpan nature to it yet still keeps some truly nightmarish and ghoulish imagery. The original short story is straight forward fare, so I actually rather appreciate the unusual direction this adaptation was taken in.
It's very much as "stick along for the ride" funhouse kind of horror comedy, and I rather enjoyed it.