Spoiler Alert: Spoilers follow for The MonkeyFew directors in recent memory have seen their stock rise as dramatically as Oz Perkins. While The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel and Hansel received positive reviews and became cult favorites, it wasn’t until last year that Perkins truly broke through in the mainstream. The immensely creepy Longlegs proved a sleeper hit of 2024, and Perkins almost immediately became a household name among horror junkies. Less than a year later, he’s already back on the big screen with his newest concoction, The Monkey.

Based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King, The Monkey proves a dramatic departure from the eerie atmosphere of Longlegs. With his new film, Perkins displays a twisted sense of humor and a knack for dark mischief, going over the top without feeling overly tongue-in-cheek. And he gets a surprising amount of mileage out of a seemingly absurd premise,...