After Long legs proved to be a huge success for director Osgood Perkins, his next Stephen King adaptation The Monkey it looks like this will take the director in a shocking and promising new direction. Now that the dust has settled on the success of Long legsIt’s fair to say that director Osgood Perkins doesn’t have the makings of a blockbuster director. Perkins’ three previous films, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I’m the pretty thing that lives in this houseand Gretel and John were extremely dark horror films that won the Long legs terrible director Rotten tomatoes average.
Not only were Perkins’ previous efforts anathema to mainstream viewers, they weren’t all that popular with critics. Even critics criticized Perkins’ films for their opaque plots and slow pacing, which made Perkins’ critical and commercial success Long legs a welcome shock. Not only was it Long legs‘ twist ending one of 2024’s scariest horror moments, but the film grossed an impressive $108 million at the box office on a budget of less than $10 million. About that, Long legs also earned Perkins the most unequivocally positive reviews of his career, with an excellent Rotten tomatoes critical score of 85%.
Longlegs director Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey looks surprisingly comical
Adaptation of Stephen King’s short story turns into dark comedy
Now for Osgood Perkins’ upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Monkey it looks like the director will try something completely different. The first trailer for Red Band The Monkey was released by NEON in October 2024, and King’s adaptation appears to move away from the dark tone of the author’s original story. From a police officer saying a bloody crime scene looks like “Spaghetti City” to a knife-related incident in a sushi restaurant to the hero holding the tip of a severed and still painted finger, The Monkeythe tone feels jarringly comical and cartoony compared to Perkins’ previous horror films and the King story on which it is based.
Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey feels all the more exciting and unpredictable thanks to this unstable and surreally comedic tone.
There’s even a particularly silly moment where Theo James’ panicked protagonist Hal/Bill sees blue sparks of electricity traveling through a puddle toward a pool a woman is diving into, a joke that could have come straight out of a Tex Avery cartoon. It’s very far from I’m the pretty thing that lives in this houseone of the most stark horror films of the 2010s, or the brutally desperate The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey feels even more exciting and unpredictable thanks to this unstable and surreally comical tone, which Long legs subtly suggested.
Monkey Director Osgood Perkins Is Overdue on a Horror Comedy
Longlegs had moments of unexpected deadpan humor
From Lee Harker’s painful lack of social elegance to the eponymous killer’s absurd display in a hardware store, Long legs can be surprisingly funny at times. The humor is completely deadpan, as the film remains a supernatural serial killer thriller, but Long legs is not devoid of humor. This is notable precisely because Perkins’s previous efforts are, even with the fairy tale retelling, Gretel and John being totally devoid of any levity. Perkins’ next film Stephen King film The Monkey will see the director flex unfamiliar muscles with this foray into dark comedy, but Long legsThe dark and comedic moments prove that the adaptation can be fun.
Source: Rotten tomatoes