“The Monkey” & The Beauty of Absurdity

Osgood Perkins is a hot name in horror cinema at the moment. His rise has not been so meteoric as he has had a string of films up until this point. However, it wasn’t until 2024’s “Longlegs” that Perkins established himself as a new titan in the genre. He proudly wears his influences on his sleeve, maybe even flexes them. His worlds are drenched in a uniquely comedic macabre. With each film, it appears Perkins is inserting more and more of that humor, to the point it’s blackness is already a trademark. “Longlegs” had some of that comedic tone, but it was hidden well enough to subdue any laughter and replace it with gasps. Many were calling “Longlegs” the “next “Silence of the Lambs’” which is quite a statement, but not one that is all too uncommon. A24 marketed “Hereditary” as “the scariest movie since The Exorcist,” and that paid off splendidly, regardless of the validity of the comparison. “Longlegs” was brilliantly marketed, a tactic that the team at TEAM duplicated for this year’s “The Monkey.” However, whereas the horror was very much at the forefront of “Longlegs” marketing campaign, “The Monkey” lead with a lighter, more playful rollout. The audiences seeing the trailer already see the carnage ensuing, in fact, many of the kills are shown in part in the trailer (that can be seen as both a positive or a negative). The kills are part of the spectacle, no doubt, but the team expect the audiences to know they’re in for gore galore. The trailer leans heavily on the comedy, which is an angle entirely opposite “Longlegs.” With both these movies coming out within a year of one another, the tonal contrast positions Perkins in an interesting position. He is a bonafide genre director and is proud of it, and his balancing of craft with camp and straight-up fun is commendable. I hate the term “elevated horror,” because it’s definition gives the impression that all other horror films are “less than.” I also think there is too much overlap to label such and such films as “elevated.” Perkins is relying on his pure love for the genre and taking that passion and churning it into well-crafted, entertaining, and quirky horror stories for the modern age. There was absurdity and quirk in “Longlegs” and his previous work, but “The Monkey” turns the amp to 15. The kills are capital A Absurd, but that was a given going in, and they are all executed well. They might not be “Terrifier” level atrocities, but they’re bloody fun. Perkins also takes the King short and seamlessly blends the two worlds into one comedic hellscape. “The Monkey” never takes itself serious, nor does it ever want the audience to think it does. For me, that lets me breathe a sigh of relief, because it seems Osgood Perkins is going to be delivering the movies he says he will, and whenever someone is consistent in following through on a promise, they tend to garner a significant group of dedicated followers.