Movies
The Five Most Crazy Kills in ‘The Monkey’
A much sillier joint than Longlegs, The Monkey is produced by The Conjuring and Malignant creator James Wan, and based on the short story by legend Stephen King from his collection Skeleton Crew. The film follows twin brothers Bill and Hall Shelburn (both played by Theo James), who discover a wind-up toy monkey left behind by their absent Father (Adam Scott). Unfortunately for them, the monkey has a mind of its own, and every time it is wound up and plays its drums, someone dies inexplicably…and in the most brutal ways possible.
The Shelburns attempt to dispose of the monkey, dropping it in a well, but twenty-five years later, it returns to pave a new path of blood and guts. The Monkey is filled to the brim with ridiculously exaggerated death scenes. Like a cartoon Final Destination franchise, the deaths feel like Looney Toons from Hell, each kill building upon the next. But how do these inventive, blood-drenched deaths rank up against each other? These are the five craziest, most creative deaths in ‘The Monkey’!
Ah, Osgood Perkins – as a modern horror maestro, he is clearly not monkeying around…or, maybe, that’s exactly what he’s doing. Still riding on the success of Longlegs, which came out less than a year ago, Perkins’ brand new trip, The Monkey, is already in theaters, banging its Satanic drums into audience’s hearts.
A much sillier joint than Longlegs, The Monkey is produced by The Conjuring and Malignant creator James Wan, and based on the short story by legend Stephen King from his collection Skeleton Crew. The film follows twin brothers Bill and Hall Shelburn (both played by Theo James), who discover a wind-up toy monkey left behind by their absent Father (Adam Scott). Unfortunately for them, the monkey has a mind of its own, and every time it is wound up and plays its drums, someone dies inexplicably…and in the most brutal ways possible.
The Shelburns attempt to dispose of the monkey, dropping it in a well, but twenty-five years later, it returns to pave a new path of blood and guts. The Monkey is filled to the brim with ridiculously exaggerated death scenes. Like a cartoon Final Destination franchise, the deaths feel like Looney Toons from Hell, each kill building upon the next. But how do these inventive, blood-drenched deaths rank up against each other?
The Five Craziest, Most Creative Deaths in The Monkey
Major Spoilers Ahead!
Image Via Neon
5. Free Real Estate
Around the film’s midpoint or so, morbidly goofy real estate agent Barbara (Tess Degenstein) is showing Hal Shelburn his Aunt Ida’s house, cleared out after her death, which we will get into later. What is so great about this kill scene is how suspenseful the build-up is. As Barbara shows him the house, the audience is given the sense that the monkey could be hiding in any place. Finally, after some build-up, the monkey’s terrifying jingle echoes from somewhere in the town, and Hal senses it. Before he can explain, Barbara opens up one final closet, and a shotgun falls, fires, and blows her to pieces. It is a bloody shock, and Hal taking her finger out of his mouth makes this shockingly well-edited sequence all the more disgusting.
4. Wheels on the Bus
In the movie’s final moments, the monkey has taken out most of the small Maine town in a rapid succession of drum beats. As Hal drives off with his son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), a school bus of celebrating cheerleaders stops mid-intersection, pom-poms and heads sticking out the windows-seemingly cheering for nothing. In the final shot of the film, an oncoming truck zooms by and decapitates or dismembers all of them, blood streaked on the road. It is a ridiculously comedic death, over-the-top in brutal execution, and a perfect way to end an equally tongue-in-cheek, blood-drenched romp.
Image Via Neon
3. Three Act Kill
Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) truly did not deserve her fate…but as the film says, “everybody dies”, so they might as well go out in the most ludicrous way possible. With the monkey’s return after over two decades, its first victim would be a member of the Shelburn family it did not claim in the ’90s. As Aunt Ida, paranoid in her old age, hears the signature jingle, she looks in the basement only to crash through aging wooden steps and scar her face in a box of fishing tackle. She survives, but only to be lured by the sound of her kitchen stove, only to have her head lit on fire. Once again, she manages to survive, but runs outside, and falls downward on the slope of the lawn, head stabbed through with the wooden end of a real estate sign. It is a convoluted kill, one truly functioning like a well-oiled machine, and one seemingly quite influenced by Final Destination.
2. Horsing Around
While the actual dying is only briefly cut to, Uncle Chip (cameoed by Perkins himself) is given one of the most vomit-inducing aftermaths. As narrated by Bill, Chip is caught in a hunting death, trampled by over sixty wild horses while in a sleeping bag. It mostly plays as comedy, but the film treats its viewers to an elongated shot of coroners pouring out the contents of the bag, and we are forced to sit through them scooping piles of mush that were once Chip out of the bag. With some disgusting practical effects, it is an absolutely sickening couple of seconds.
1. The Nest
It is difficult to pick the “best” kill in a film defined by its phenomenal kill sequences. Still, the grossest kill, most creative kill, and, honestly, the genuinely scariest scene in the movie would have to be Ricky’s (Rohan Campbell) unfortunate death scene. In the back seat of Hal’s car, holding him at gunpoint, he accidentally fires through the window of the car, and through a huge wasp’s nest. Just as Petey winds the monkey inside Bill’s lair, the wasps shoot out in an arrow, filtering into the car and shooting into Ricky’s mouth. Hal escapes, but the audience is left to witness the wasps, controlling Ricky from the inside as he twitches, the bugs beginning to make his body into a nest. His jaw quickly decomposes, the insects tearing his face apart into a hive. It is a never-before-seen type of death from the movie, and certainly leaves the greatest lasting effect on the viewer after the credits roll
Overall, Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey is not to be missed. If you have not seen it, and feel like you can stomach the amount of explosions, decapitations, and dismemberments caught on camera, it has just been released in theaters. With more news of Perkins’ next film, Keeper, dropping each day, one can only imagine what a horror Director with such subgenre versatility will deliver next.
I was late to the Radio Silence party. However, I do not let that stop me from being one of the loudest people at the function now. I randomly decided to see Ready or Not in theaters one afternoon in 2019 and walked out a better person for it. The movie introduced me to the work of a team that would become some of my favorite current filmmakers. It also confirmed that getting married is the worst thing one can do. That felt very validating as someone who doesn’t buy into the needing to be married to be complete narrative.
Ready or Not is about a fucked up family with a fucked up tradition. The unassuming Grace (Samara Weaving) thinks her new in-laws are a bit weird. However, she’s blinded by love on her wedding day. She would never suspect that her groom, Alex (Mark O’Brien), would lead her into a deadly wedding night. So, she heads downstairs to play a game with the family, not knowing that they will be hunting her this evening. This is one of the many ways I am different from Grace. I watch enough of the news to know the husband should be the prime suspect, and I have been around long enough to know men are the worst. I also have a commitment phobia, so the idea of walking down the aisle gives me anxiety.
Grace Under Fire
Ready or Not is a horror comedy set on a wealthy family’s estate that got overshadowed by Knives Out. I have gone on record multiple times saying it’s the better movie. Sadly, because it has fewer actors who are household names, people are not ready to have that conversation. However, I’m taking up space this month to talk about catharsis, so let me get back on track. One of the many ways this movie is better than the latter is because of that sweet catharsis awaiting us at the end.
This movie puts Grace through it and then some. Weaving easily makes her one of the easiest final girls to root for over a decade too. From finding out the man she loves has betrayed her, to having to fight off the in-laws trying to kill her, as she is suddenly forced to fight to survive her wedding night. No one can say that Grace doesn’t earn that cigarette at the end of the film. As she sits on the stairs covered in the blood of what was supposed to be her new family, she is a relatable icon. As the unseen cop asks what happened to her, she simply says, “In-laws.” It’s a quick laugh before the credits roll, and “Love Me Tender” by Stereo Jane makes us dance and giggle in our seats.
Ready or Not Proves That Maybe She’s Better Off Alone
It is also a moment in which Grace is one of many women who survives marriage. She comes out of the other side beaten but not broken. Grace finally put herself, and her needs first, and can breathe again in a way she hasn’t since saying I do. She fought kids, her parents-in-law, and even her husband to escape with her life. She refused to be a victim, and with that cigarette, she is finally free and safe. Grace is back to being single, and that’s clearly for the best.
This Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy script is funny on the surface, even before you start digging into the subtext. The fact that Ready or Not is a movie where the happy ending is a woman being left alone is not wasted on me, though. While Grace thought being married would make her happy, she now has physical and emotional wounds to remind her that it’s okay to be alone.
One of the things I love about this current era of Radio Silence films is that the women in these projects are not the perfect victims. Whether it’s Ready or Not, Abigail, or Scream (2022), or Scream VI, the girls are fighting. They want to live, they are smart and resourceful, and they know that no one is coming to help them. That’s why I get excited whenever I see Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s names appear next to a Guy Busick co-written script. Those three have cracked the code to give us women protagonists that are badasses, and often more dangerous than their would-be killers when push comes to shove.
Ready or Not Proves That Commitment is Scarier Than Death
So, watching Grace run around this creepy family’s estate in her wedding dress is a vision. It’s also very much the opposite of what we expect when we see a bride. Wedding days are supposed to be champagne, friends, family, and trying to buy into the societal notion that being married is what we’re supposed to aspire to as AFABs. They start programming us pretty early that we have to learn to cook to feed future husbands and children.
The traditions of being given away by our fathers, and taking our husbands’ last name, are outdated patriarchal nonsense. Let’s not even get started on how some guys still ask for a woman’s father’s permission to propose. These practices tell us that we are not real people so much as pawns men pass off to each other. These are things that cause me to hyperventilate a little when people try to talk to me about settling down.
Marriage Ain’t For Everybody
I have a lot of beef with marriage propaganda. That’s why Ready or Not speaks to me on a bunch of levels that I find surprising and fresh. Most movies would have forced Grace and Alex to make up at the end to continue selling the idea that heterosexual romance is always the answer. Even in horror, the concept that “love will save the day” is shoved at us (glares at The Conjuring Universe). So, it’s cool to see a movie that understands women can be enough on their own. We don’t need a man to complete us, and most of the time, men do lead to more problems. While I am no longer a part-time smoker, I find myself inhaling and exhaling as Grace takes that puff at the end of the film. As a woman who loves being alone, it’s awesome to be seen this way.
The Cigarette of Singledom
We don’t need movies to validate our life choices. However, it’s nice to be acknowledged every so often. If for no other reason than to break up the routine. I’m so tired of seeing movies that feel like a guy and a girl making it work, no matter the odds, is admirable. Sometimes people are better when they separate, and sometimes divorce saves lives. So, I salute Grace and her cathartic cigarette at the end of her bloody ordeal.
I cannot wait to see what single shenanigans she gets into in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. I personally hope she inherited that money from the dead in-laws who tried her. She deserves to live her best single girl life on a beach somewhere. Grace’s marriage was a short one, but she learned a lot. She survived it, came out the other side stronger, richer, and knowing that marriage isn’t for everybody.
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time watching my favorite app. Luckily, Shudder is not taking it easy on us this holiday season, so I may meet my quota this January. The streamer is bringing in the new year with quite a few bangers. We have classics from icons, a new title from the first family of indie horror, and a couple of lesser-known films that have finally found a home. So, I am obviously living for this month’s programming and think most of you will too. I have picked the five films that I believe deserve our collective attention the most. Get into each of them and start your 2026 off on the right foot.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Carrie (1976)
A sheltered teen finally unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated for the last time. Carrie is the reason I thought proms might be cool when I was a kid. This Brian De Palma adaptation is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations. It is also an important title in the good-for-her subgenre. I cannot help rooting for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) when I watch her snap at this prom and then head home to accidentally deal with her mom. The only tragedy of this evening is that Carrie had to die, too. I said what I said, and I will be hitting play again while it is on Shudder. This recommendation goes out to the other recovering sheltered girls who would be the problem if they had powers. I see you because I am you.
You can watch Carrie on January 1st.
Marshmallow (2025)
A shy 12-year-old gets sent to summer camp and finds himself in a living nightmare. While Marshmallow did not land for me, I know plenty of people who love it. Which makes this the perfect addition to the Shudder catalogue. I am actually excited to see more folks fall in love with this movie when it hits the streamer. If nothing else, it will help a few folks cross off another 2025 title if they are still playing catch-up with last year’s movies. It also gets cool points from me for not taking the easy route with the mystery it built. I hope you all dig it more than I did, and tell your friends about it. Perhaps you could even encourage them to sign up for the app.
You can watch Marshmallow on January 1st.
Chain Reactions (2024)
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cemented his horror legacy over fifty years ago. So, it is long overdue for a documentary where horror royalty can discuss its impact on them and their careers. I have been waiting for a couple of years to hear Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike talk about Hooper’s work and how he inspired them. So, I am super geeked that Shudder is finally giving me the chance to see this film. The streamer is also helping the nerds out by adding The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) this month. If you are also an overachieving couch potato, I will see you at the finish line next week.
You can watch Chain Reactions on January 9th.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
An insurance investigator discovers the impact a horror writer’s books have on people. I love chaos, and John Carpenter chaos happens to be one of my favorite kinds of chaos. While we talk about The Thing and Halloween all the time, this maestro has given us plenty of horror to celebrate. In the Mouth of Madness is very much one of those titles vying for a top spot among the best of his filmography. To sweeten the batshit pot, this movie features Sam Neill. You know that he only shows up in our genre if the movie is going to be legendary. You cannot tell me this is not a Shudder priority this month.
You can watch In the Mouth of Madness on January 10th.
Mother of Flies (2025)
A terminally ill young woman and her dad head to the woods to seek out a recluse who claims she can cure her cancer. The Adams Family has been holding court on Shudder for years, so it feels right that Mother of Flies is a Shudder Original. More importantly, this fest favorite has one of the best performances of 2025. Which makes it a great time for people to finally get to see it and get in line to give Toby Poser her flowers. Whatever you think your favorite Poser role is, it is about to change when you see her as Solveig. I am being serious when I say that this movie might be the first family of indie horror at their best.
You can watch Mother of Flies on January 23rd.
New year, but same Shudder. I would not want to go into 2026 any other way, personally. I hope these horrific recommendations bring you the good kind of anxiety. Or at least distract you from the state of the world for a bit.
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‘Sleepy Hollow’ Review: Seeing Really Is Believing
‘Ready or Not’ and the Cathartic Cigarette of a Relatable Final Girl
‘Carrie’ Review: A Look At Two Adaptations
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in January 2026
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Netflix in January 2026
‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ Review: An Overlooked Gem
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