In 1999, Petey Shelburn (Colin O’Brien) tries to return a wind-up drum-playing toy monkey to an antique shop. But the monkey plays its drum, starting a chain-reaction that ends with a harpoon gun killing the shop-owner. Then Petey disappears, leaving his wife Lois (Tatiana Maslany) to raise their twin sons Hal and Bill (Christian Convery) on her own. The twins discover the monkey in their father’s belongings and wind it up. That evening, at a hibachi restaurant, the monkey triggers the decapitation of their babysitter Annie (Danica Dreyer).
Bill’s bullying of Hal results in Hal winding the monkey’s key to kill his brother. Instead, Lois develops an aneurysm and drops dead. Hal gets rid of the monkey quickly before they move to Casco, Maine, to live with Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) and Uncle Chip (Osgood Perkins). The monkey mysteriously turns up at their new home and Bill winds it up, causing Uncle Chip to die in a horse stampede. They put the monkey in a box and dump it down a well.
Twenty-five years later, Hal is still paranoid, estranged from his family, including his own son Petey (Colin O’Brian). His ex-wife wants to adopt the kid and take him away from Hal. Ida is killed in a freak accident and Bill calls Hal, afraid the monkey has returned. A woman is killed in a motel pool explosion. The real estate agent Barbara (Tess Degenstein) reveals that a series of weird accidents have happened in town all week. Barbara is killed by a dropped shotgun.
Hal and Petey learn that Bill is in town and has the monkey. He wants to use it to retaliate against his enemies, but it has been killing random people. Bill thinks that only the one who winds the key is safe and they should let Petey wind the key. Otherwise, Bill says he will keep winding it until Hal is killed, no matter how many people die. He hires a local named Ricky (Rohan Campbell) to steal it for him.
Ricky forces Petey at gunpoint to get the monkey for him. Bill tells Petey to wind it and Ricky is killed by wasps. The monkey drums uncontrollably and triggers widespread death in the town. Bill gives up and the twins reconcile over their shared grief and apologize. The monkey beats out a rhythm one last time and Bill is decapitated by a bowling ball. The whole town is devastated, and they try to prevent the key from being wound. A pale black-eyed man on a pale horse passes by and acknowledges them, so they go dancing.
This extremely dark comedy was written and directed by Osgood Perkins, based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story. It got positive reviews from critics. James Wan produced it under his Atomic Monster banner. The cymbal-banging toy in the book was changed to a drum-banging toy because Walt Disney owned the rights to the latter after Toy Story 3. The black humor was to point out the absurdity, pointlessness, and randomness of death. The trailer was not aired on TV. The film made nearly six million dollars on the first day and came in second after Captain America: Brave New World. Stephen King called it batshit insane and loved it.
A lot of reviewers thought the deaths were the only fun bits in the movie. It’s hard not to compare it to the Final Destination films but it doesn’t match their brilliance. It tends to drag a little when the monkey is not on the screen. And it was a bad idea to put all the best bits in the trailer. Either you are amused by the over-the-top death scenes or you’re not. It doesn’t really have much else. And just how did the Monkey start killing people when it was not wound up?