The Monkey - Movie Review

0:00 you know what's scarier than a possessed monkey doll grocery shopping bringing me to the sponsor of this video this video is brought to you by factor factor delivers fresh never frozen meals right to your door meals that are perfect for the hustle of life cuz sometimes you don't want to shop prep or cook for a meal but you still want the meal with Factor fresh hot meal ready in 2 minutes didn't even have to leave your house cuz it is fun to break away from your routine eating habits find new thing I think factor is perfect for that you can be like all right that sounds good I'll add it to the next delivery see if I like it it might just change your life or at least your eating habits with options like keto calorie smart vegan veggie and more whatever your taste they got you covered but if you're looking for just a snack Factor does have snack options like breakfast smoothies juices and small bites Factor understands Life Is Life sometimes plans change by the

0:45 day let alone the week you can change your order up every week pause reschedule meals I appreciate that you want a schedule factor for those days off where you're not going to want to leave the house so click the link below use code 50 John to get yourself 50% off plus free shipping on your first Factor box and thank you once again to factor for sponsoring this video I do appreciate it and now a movie based off of a Stephen King short story that's has worked out well [Music] recently he said sarcastically so the monkey's a new film based off of the Stephen King short story of the same name it follows a man- named Hal though it starts out following a boy named Hal who becomes the man- named Hal point is kid Hal comes across this toy monkey though don't call it a toy people in the movie get very mad when you do but if you wind this monkey up it'll Beat It

1:31 drum then this mous trap Final Destination type scenario goes down and someone gets killed in which at first man I was like its final destination meets Death Note all right yes since the liveaction Death Note came out on Netflix I have seen the Death Note animation it's pretty damn good so the monkeys written and directed by OS good Perkins the writer and director of the movie long legs you remember long legs the movie where Nicholas Cage looks like your crazy Aunt Berget turned into one of the vampires in 30 Days of Night and got hooked on crystal meth instead of blood yeah that one positives first cuz that's how I like to roll sometimes I'm just feeling it today I thought Theo James was really good in the movie not just in one role he does have a dual role he has to play not for very long but still it's always fun to see that with actors I'm sure it's a lot of fun

2:16 for them it's fun for the audience too to see the actor do two different things be two different people and the kills when you get to actually appreciate them are actually pretty fun in that Bloody kind of way it's never like Final Destination it's not like this monkey beats its drum and then you get the tension of when someone's about to die there are a couple moments like that but there are other moments in here where you kind of get the cliff notes or a voice over with a brief flashback then it goes back to where we were a positive that does roll into the negatives or conflicting tone I should say is the camera work the movie looks good the camera work the creepy tone those moments that make the tension of this haunted monkey doll just kind of Sizzle and simmer props well done but when that is undone by conflicting comedic tone that becomes a problem in this movie

3:01 this is one of those moments I probably should have watched the trailer there are movies I try not to watch the trailer for sometimes I just don't run across the trailer other times I watched the trailer and I'm like I shouldn't have watched that trailer this is one of those movies I probably should have watched the trailer to brace myself for that tone because when the first death happens it's actually really shocking and up to this point there hasn't really been a sense that this is a comedy even after watching the movie I can't tell you that there is a sense that this movie is a comedy more confused then the first death happens it's really shocking really quick cut to the funeral and the priest is all like [ __ ] uh I felt like something was off here but maybe it's just the one awkward Scene It Wasn't now this movie has a

3:47 case of identity crisis is it a dark comedy is it a horror movie is it slapstick there movies that have been comedies that are technically horror like Idle Hands others are horror that lean into the horror but have comedy in them like scream it has comedic characters that do make you laugh but the characters are the audience watching a horror movie unfold right in front of them but when the axe drops so to speak and it's being a horror movie it commits to that tone then you have movies like Cabin in the Woods that are undeniably comedic but it uses that to say something about the cliches of horror movies and use that for its own lore feel like that was a bit of a tangent but now we come back to the monkey a movie that feels like all of the conflicting tone those movies I just mentioned might have had in alternate realities was funneled into one movie movie here called the monkey a movie

4:33 needs to find its balance when it's off balance one scale will compromise the effect of the other some scenes that could have been intense in a horror movie aspect were hamstrung because of the comedy some scenes that could have been more comedic were hamstrung because of the horror this is a film that feels like it's trying to live in two different worlds one foot in each lane especially given the subject matter we're talking about absentee father's sibling rivalry that's turned murderous is someone will explode the movie wants to be like that was funny though right the exploding body wasn't too funny there's one that kind of is but more than that it's the reaction of the character who was there when it happened I just don't buy like imagine the scene in Home Alone when Harry gets all the feathers blown onto him but the feathers are blood it's the same reaction shot just that standing there in silence like something shocking happened but

5:20 we're all supposed to laugh there's even one scene dealing with custody battle adoption a father's about to lose access to his son it just plays out like a comedy and I'm like there's nothing funny about the scene I guess that's a point I'm trying to make here if I had to pick one thing this movie wants to be more it is a comedy but it's just not funny it had more success being a horror movie than a comedy should have leaned into that or picked a lane and just went with one of them should have played it up like scream where when things are getting real the characters recognize that things are getting real but the characters just never really do so to answer the question is it a dark comedy horror slapstick Dollar Store Treehouse of Horror the answer is yes it's a horror comedy that's written and directed by a writer director who's not a comedic writer director commits the

6:07 cardinal sin it's just not funny but hey maybe the movie be a better time if you're drunk yeah now it mixes a little better kind of makes sense I'll know for sure after this drink this makes me rethink the movie long legs those scenes with Nicholas Cage where he's being crazy Nick Cage but in a serial killer thriller movie kind of way and it was just kind of chilling creepy thing for me and then I saw other people being like not just tonally it felt like he was being goof and the movie wasn't as goofy and it conflicted for some people I concede I guess I read it wrong you were right that was the Genesis of the conflicting tone that this movie definitely leans into dialed up to 11 all right so the monkey have you seen it what did you think about it or what's a horror comedy that did mix horror and comedy really well whatever it is whatever you think comment below let me know and as always if you like what

6:52 you've seen here and you want to see more click right here to see more [Music]