The latest preview for The Monkey debuted on Christmas Day, featuring some commentary from writer-director Osgood Perkins. Perkins wrote the screenplay adaptation of this short story by Stephen King, and he showed fans a 3 minute, 30-second clip on Wednesday. The movie will hit theaters on February 21, 2025.
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Fans are getting an entire scene rather than a trailer for The Monkey, and if that weren’t unique enough, Perkins is here to open and close the video with some light, friendly commentary. It’s a hilarious juxtaposition to the gruesome violence of the scene itself — it shows actress Sarah Levy playing a very unlucky person. In just a few minutes, she suffers several near-fatal accidents, and her fate is left uncertain in the end. It seems like she knew something bad was coming as she stalked around the house paranoid with a gun in hand.
The Monkey is about twin brothers Hal and Bill — both played by Theo James — who discover a vintage toy monkey in their attic. After finding it, they witness a series of horrifying deaths and come to believe they’re haunted. The brothers get rid of the toy and go their separate ways, but it’s not enough. They decide instead to work together to try and break the curse put on them by this toy.
The original short story by King was published in 1980 in Gallery Magazine. It was later included in King’s 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew. There are a few differences — the story is about brothers named Peter and Dennis, while their father was named Hal, for starters. It’s unclear how closely the new movie will follow the original story, or where it will extend the plot to fit a feature-length run-time.
The film adaptation of The Monkey also stars Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Perkins himself. Christian Convery plays a younger version of the twin brothers. The movie was produced by James Wan through his Atomic Monster company, and was filmed from February through March of this year in Vancouver. It will be distributed by Neon, the up-and-coming film company that distributed Perkins’ hit horror film Longlegs earlier this year.
There are 10 more film adaptations of King’s writings in the works right now, though only one has a release date. The Running Man hits theaters on November 7, 2025. The Long Walk also filmed earlier this year, but has no release date yet. The other eight adaptations are in development, along with five TV adaptations.
You can check out King’s short story in Graveyard Shift, available now in print, digital and audiobook formats. The Monkey hits theaters on February 21, 2025.
