Is The Monkey Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It's a horror comedy with some jump scares and deaths that are gory and absurd.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It is gone by the time the credits roll.
DOG
Dog: fine
no dog in this one.
Ruling: Good for a group that laughs at gore, and a poor pick for anyone who winces at it.
The Monkey runs ninety-seven minutes. A wind-up monkey plays a drum, and each time it does, somebody nearby meets an end that took a lot of planning on the part of the universe.
The premise, briefly
Twin brothers find a wind-up monkey among their missing father's things, and every time its key is turned, someone nearby meets a freak end. Twenty-five years later, it starts again.
How much do you want to know?
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The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Hal and Bill reconcile just before the monkey decapitates Bill with a bowling ball. Hal and his son Petey survive, the town is wrecked, and the two of them keep the monkey so nobody can wind it again.
The scene you're dreading
Early in the film, the twins wind the monkey's key, and that evening their babysitter is accidentally decapitated by the chef at a hibachi restaurant.
The dog
There is no dog in The Monkey, and no pets either.
It is a gory horror comedy built around freak accidents, and the jump scares are mild.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Returning a toy without a receipt
In 1999, a man named Petey Shelburn tries to return a wind-up toy monkey that plays a drum to an antiques shop. Before he can, the monkey drums, which sets off a string of events that finishes with a harpoon gun killing the shop owner. Petey then vanishes, and his wife Lois is left on her own with twin sons, Hal and Bill. The boys find the monkey in their father's things and wind its key. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes at the start of the movie: that evening, while the family's babysitter Annie is with them at a hibachi restaurant, she is decapitated by the chef, by accident.
Hal is bullied constantly by Bill, and one day he winds the key hoping it will kill his brother. Instead Lois dies of an aneurysm in front of Bill. Hal gets rid of the monkey, and the twins are sent to Casco, Maine, to stay with Aunt Ida and Uncle Chip. The monkey reappears at the new house, and this time Bill winds the key. Chip is trampled to death by horses in a stampede. The twins lock the monkey in its box and drop it down a nearby well, hoping it stays there.
Twenty-five years and a very unsafe motel pool
Twenty-five years later, Hal is paranoid and has drifted away from his son, Petey, whose mother's new husband plans to adopt him. When Ida dies in a freak accident, Bill phones Hal, whom he has not spoken to in nine years, and says he thinks the monkey is back. Hal believes him once he watches a woman explode after jumping into an electrified motel pool. Ida's real estate agent, Barbara, tells Hal about a run of strange fatal accidents in town since Ida died, and then a shotgun falls out of a closet and kills her. Hal and Petey find out that Bill lives locally and owns the monkey, which he hired a local named Ricky to retrieve. Bill knows Hal once tried to use the monkey on him, so he has been winding the key out of spite, and it has been killing strangers. Whoever winds the key is spared, so Bill offers to stop if Petey takes over the winding. Otherwise he will keep winding until Hal dies.
A bowling ball with a name on it
Ricky is obsessed with the monkey and forces Petey at gunpoint to fetch it from Bill's house. Bill tells Petey to turn the key, and Ricky is killed by a swarm of wasps. When Hal comes in and Bill sees him still alive, Bill furiously tries to make the monkey drum without winding it, to kill Hal. That backfires: the monkey drums out of control, and the town is wrecked and its people killed. Hal confronts Bill, who gives up. The twins say sorry to one another and make up over how much they miss their mother. The monkey then drums one last time, and a bowling ball with Lois's name on it decapitates Bill. Hal and Petey drive through the ruined town and decide to keep the monkey and make sure no one winds the key again. A pale man with black eyes rides by on a horse and acknowledges them. Hal suggests going dancing, which Lois loved, and Petey agrees.
The ending, explained
Bill gives up the fight, and he and Hal say sorry and make peace over losing their mother. The monkey drums one last time, and a bowling ball bearing Lois's name decapitates Bill. By then the monkey's uncontrolled drumming has wrecked the town. Hal and his son Petey survive. They agree to take over as the monkey's owners and promise each other that nobody will wind the key again. A pale man with black eyes passes them on a horse and acknowledges them, and Hal suggests they go dancing, which his mother always loved.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog in this one.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Monkey scary?
The Monkey is a 4 out of 10 with low dread. It has some jump scares, which the comic tone softens, and several gory deaths.
How does The Monkey end?
Hal and Bill reconcile, and then the monkey kills Bill with a bowling ball. Hal and his son Petey survive, the town is wrecked, and they keep the monkey so nobody winds it again.
Does the dog die in The Monkey?
There is no dog in The Monkey, and no pets appear either.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Monkey?
No. The Monkey has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What does the monkey do in The Monkey?
Each time someone winds the key on the wind-up monkey, it plays its drum and someone nearby dies in a freak accident. Whoever winds the key is spared.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Monkey is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to sit through ninety-seven minutes of The Monkey to know what happens. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the rest of the internet's horror for you.
