Last Updated on March 14, 2025 by Angel Melanson
Stephen King adaptations are not devoid of gore, yet I'd hesitate to describe King's on-screen trademarks as “gory.” Dead Alive (aka Braindead) is gory. Tokyo Gore Police is gory. Where Carrie dumps buckets of blood or Silver Bullet sends a decapitated head flying, King's more interested in psychological horrors about the human condition. That's what makes Osgood “Oz” Perkins' The Monkey such a surprise. It's jam-packed with gruesome deaths that ooze midnight movie greatness, all but assuring its status as the goriest Stephen King movie ever.
Perkins writes, directs, and appears in a feature-length reimagining of King's 1980 short story The Monkey. The premise is simple: a drumming antique toy monkey murders victims whenever it plays. Brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (Christian Convery) find the eerie furry drummer boy in their father's belongings and quickly realize the figure's powers. As adults, Hal and Bill (Theo James) must face the Monkey's wrath again as innocents start dropping like flies. Where there's the Monkey, there is Death — the film's promise.
Frankly, I'm more surprised that an Oz Perkins release goes so hard as a slaughterfest than Stephen King's association. Perkins' filmic trademarks are slow-burn, molasses-moody atmosphere pieces with fantastic visual composition yet minimal goopy guts. The Blackcoat's Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, and Gretel & Hansel can be classified by their lingering dread.
Last year's Longlegs has that headshot, maggot corpses, and Nicolas Cage's facial deconstruction, but it's still more of a dreadful supernatural police thriller. Perkins is a purveyor of rotten vibes who asks his audiences to be patient … until this year.
If I didn't already know The Monkey was an Oz Perkins film, he'd be my 75th guess. Where has this Oz Perkins been hiding? The one we haven't seen since he became a zombie and held severed heads in the hick-hop horror musical Dead & Breakfast? This is Perkins doing Final Destination or Wes Craven, seamlessly transitioning into the hack-’em-up filmmaker role who splatters peoples' insides while making us laugh. Personally, this is my favorite Oz Perkins we've seen. A sense of humor and butcher's touch are mighty weapons for Anthony Perkins' son.
Listen. Lemon, it's February. There's still plenty of 2025 left and a mountain of upcoming horror releases. That said, The Monkey is well positioned to be in the “Goriest Horror Movie of the Year“ conversation once December comes around. Every fiber of my critical being strives to avoid hyperbole hype, especially so early, but The Monkey isn't messing around when it comes to gratuitous violence.
I'm lucky enough to curate a list of the year's best kills for FANGORIAs magazine, and there's a 99.9% chance a specific death from The Monkey lands in my Top 3. It'd have to be a miraculous bounty of horror movie demises to push a very explodey fatality from The Monkey into the bottom half of my list, so trust that my praise is studied and warranted.
Whether deadly or not, King adaptations have no shortage of standout brutality. A cop takes a corncob to the spine in Sleepwalkers. Jud Crandall takes a knife to the Achilles, the commissures, and then has his throat bitten open in Pet Sematary. There's “Pie Gore“ (Thinner), “Rat Bat Gore“ (Graveyard Shift), and all other flavors from King's imagination, but the films themselves aren't typically front-to-back showcases for practical effects warehouses when offing characters.
That's where The Monkey is different. Once the first execution pops, the fun don't stop. Perkins hits the ground running in the very first scene and doesn't cease the carnage until the credits roll, right after a multi-person kill that takes us out with the same vile attitude that welcomes viewers.
I mentioned Final Destination above because The Monkey has that same milestone architecture built around key death scenes. “The Monkey“ itself operates as Death, even. Once Mr. Monkey's arm raises, the drumstick twirls, and he strikes his instrument, we know someone's about to die — attention shifts to anyone in the plaything's vicinity or objects that could become murder tools.
There's a Rube Goldberg domino effect that feels very akin to the elaborate ways characters started dying in Final Destination, where a droplet of water or sparked electrical outlet somehow ends in a massage parlor hanging or something absurd. Death rides a pale horse; there's no escape.
Perkins imbues The Monkey with morbid creativity, making gore factors shine brighter. It's not a backwoods slasher where counselors are repeatedly sliced open with a machete. The film's opening kill sets a crimson-slathered tone and displays the lengths Perkins chases to keep deaths fresh. What he can orchestrate using odd trinkets in a pawn shop is merely the beginning. Perkins invests in the spectacle, exaggeration, and pitch-black humor over reasonable doubt. The film's special effects teams utilize blended techniques to blow bodies apart, reduce them to a canned-chili-like slurry, or pull guts out like human piñata fillings. I can't remember a single recycled long kiss goodnight.
That's the clincher. No other Stephen King adaptation dedicates its narrative meat to a “dielight“ reel of kills that become the film's calling card. Kings' literature makes for compelling societal inquisitions that pry into humanity's quirks or possible downfalls. I think of Misery, Cell, or 1408 immediately. They're also supernaturally focused, from It to The Shining and countless others. Where Georgie Denbrough's sewer encounter with Pennywise is like a shark luring in a tasty snack, the rest of the film isn't a ferocious creature feature. The Monkey is built differently, which makes it an easy contender for the goriest King adaptation.
It's difficult to back up these claims without diving into spoiler territory, so you'll have to trust me until you rush to theaters on February 21st. Don't get me wrong, had The Monkey released last year, Terrifier 3 and In a Violent Nature would still probably hold their placement at one and two on my “Kill List.“
But that's a loosey-goosey “probably.“ The Monkey had me beaming with joy with every new corpse, returning to an unhinged brand of horror that dances on Death's doorstep. Perkins' expansion on King's compact source treats the Monkey's misfortunes as a smorgasbord of slayings, yet never loses our attention. The hits keep on comin'.
If there's a gorier Stephen King adaptation, it's escaped my memory. The Monkey goes for the jugular regarding graphic bloodshed and does not disappoint. I didn't have “Ultra Gory Oz Perkins Stephen King Adaptation“ on my 2025 horror bingo card, yet here we are. That's the magic of the horror genre and why we don't pigeonhole filmmakers who've developed trademark voices.
Judging Perkins' past projects, he'd be among the last talents to helm a darkly comedic midnighter with bite. Instead, Perkins adds to his arsenal of directorial capabilities. If you want gallons of red bodily juices, The Monkey will quench your thirst ten times over.
Watch The Monkey in theaters on February 21. For more, check out our Stephen King stories we'd love to see on the screen.
