Warning: this review contains spoilers.

NEON’s new Stephen King adaptation, “The Monkey,” is not for the faint of heart but is an absolute blast for those who can stomach the absolute carnage on display. “The Monkey” is an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, which was released in 1980 and later revised for his 1985 anthology titled “Skeleton Crew.” “The Monkey” was nominated for the 1982 British Fantasy Award for best short story, though it did not win.

The film and story both follow Hal Shelbourne, whose father left the family at an early age, leaving behind a toy monkey that always seems to bring death wherever it goes. This is just about all the stories have in common.

Directed by Osgood Perkins, the film can be described as “a bold departure from the original source material,” changing numerous aspects in the name of entertainment. These aspects include changing the cymbals to a drum, greatly increasing the body (and gore) count, making Hal’s brother a twin, changing the causes of deaths, referencing “The Book of Revelation,” and turning up the ending by a factor of 10. This gives the film a significantly different meaning compared to the original.

In this version, the box the monkey is found in reads “like life,” which is implied to mean that the monkey chooses who lives and who dies seemingly at random and at a whim, like life itself. Hal sees the monkey follow him wherever he goes after he and his twin brother, Bill, find it among their father’s belongings. Later that week, when at a hibachi dinner with their babysitter, the monkey is in the car outside when a freak accident occurs, leaving the babysitter one head shorter than before.

Hal quickly realizes the monkey is to blame, and since he hates Bill, tries to wind the key and direct its killing blows towards him. He soon finds that the monkey, like it says on the box, is “like life” and operates on its own terms. Hal’s mother dies in a freak medical episode, which doctors describe as nearly impossible. After the twins move in with their aunt and uncle, they quickly begin to realize the evil of this monkey and try on more than one occasion to get rid of it, before finally locking it in its box and throwing it down a dry well.

All this is before Bill is told by the monkey that it was Hal who killed their mom, leading the story to connect with the present day, when their aunt, long ago widowed, has died in a freak accident and that the cycle has restarted.

Throughout the rest of the film, it is revealed slowly that many of the accidents now popping up in the town their aunt lived in were caused by Bill, who is trying to direct the monkey to kill Hal in revenge for their mother’s death.

In the middle of all this, Hal is trying to connect with his son, Petey Jr., who he is about to lose to adoption to his ex-wife’s current husband. Hal is reluctant to reveal the true horror of the monkey and even lies to Petey about the existence of Bill.

Throughout the film, bits of comedy are introduced into the story as a way of breaking up the often heavy scenes on display. This is one of the film’s greatest strengths and departures from the original source material, as the original story and first script draft were too serious for Perkins.

“And I told them: ‘this doesn’t work for me.’ The thing with this toy monkey is that the people around it all die in insane ways …  everyone dies. Sometimes in their sleep, sometimes in truly insane ways, like I experienced. But everyone dies. And I thought maybe the best way to approach that insane notion is with a smile,” Perkins Empire.

Another theme that gets brought up repeatedly during the film is the idea that the monkey is a physical representation of death, as well as the general idea of death as a physical figure. Hal references Revelation 6:8 multiple times throughout the film in relation to the monkey and the events around him.

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him,” he says. “And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

This points to the view that Hal has realized is true, that the Monkey kills at random, no matter the identity or intent of the one who turns the key. Bill believes that there exists a way to control the whims of death, a belief that eventually turns fatal for Bill.

In the climax of the film, Petey goes to Bill and is persuaded to turn the key by his uncle, who believes that Petey may be the key to controlling fate. But this fails as the monkey kills Bill’s minion who was sitting next to Hal in a car outside.

Desperate to kill his brother, Bill attempts to force the drumstick to hit the drum, something which he quickly finds to be disastrous. As Hal attempts to get in, the monkey begins violently beating the drum, as sounds from outside the warehouse indicate chaos befalling the surrounding town.

Bill looks out a crack in the window and witnesses planes falling from the sky and fires randomly igniting. Hal reaches the room with Bill and Petey, eventually reconciling with Bill in what seems to be the final moments of the movie. Suddenly, Bill becomes one head shorter as the monkey makes one last beat before falling silent. Petey and his father exit quickly and begin to drive around the wrecked town while wondering what to do with the monkey.

They decide to keep it and make sure no one can turn the key anymore, accepting the fate that Hal’s father had bestowed upon them. In the final scene, the pair come to an intersection, where they behold a pale horse, and upon it sat a pale figure assumed to be death himself. The figure nods to the pair before continuing past them. The two drive off into the distance, forever consigned to watch over the Monkey.

Dylan Podlinski can be reached at [email protected] and Kylie Slattery can be reached at [email protected].