Returning to directing—this time without a huge hiatus—Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey (2025) is a slight departure from his moody, horrific Longlegs. The black comedy horror leans more heavily on the inevitability of death, taking an existential look at why everyone is so scared to die and how we have no control over it. Based on a Stephen King short story and starring Theo James in dual roles as two brothers who come to believe that a toy monkey is against their family, killing everyone off. The Monkey is a pretty straightforward horror comedy, but it does come with an ending that might confuse a lot of audiences.
So, in the following article, I will take a detailed look at every aspect of the movie and discuss how and why we get to that wild ending point. Please be aware that the article will be full of spoilers.
The Monkey (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film begins in 1999 when a man named Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) visits an antique store, hoping to return a toy monkey that plays the drums. The shop owner doesn’t want a “stupid monkey,” but Petey is quick to remind him that one must never call the monkey stupid. He just wants to return the toy because bad things always happen whenever it plays the drums. However, before the owner can be convinced, he is killed by a harpoon gun. Soon after, Petey disappears, leaving his wife, Lois, to raise their twin boys, Hal and Bill.
Years pass, and one day, the twins find the monkey in a closet among their father’s belongings. Curiosity gets the better of them, and one of the boys winds its key. Later that night, while the boys are out with their babysitter at a hibachi restaurant, a freak accident leads to Annie—their babysitter—getting killed. Meanwhile, the kids have a typical sibling relationship. Bill often bullies Hal, which makes Hal imagine Bill somehow dying. He gets so angry that one day, he even winds up the monkey’s key again hoping his brother dies. Unfortunately, their mother dies from an aneurysm right in front of Bill. This fills Hal with immense guilt, and he takes the monkey apart, even trying to get rid of it.
Soon after, the boys move to Maine to live with their Aunt Ida and Uncle Chip. Strangely, the monkey shows up there too. Realizing that it has the power to kill people, Bill winds the key again despite Hal pleading with him not to. The next target is Chip, who is killed in a horse stampede. This leads the twins to put the monkey in a box and throw it into a well, hoping no one ever finds it again.
Time passes, and 25 years later, Hal and Bill are estranged brothers. Hal also has a distant relationship with his own son, Petey, whom he sees only once a year. He fears that the monkey may return to his life and kill his son. Believing that the best way to avoid attending any more funerals is to keep his distance from everyone, he isolates himself. However, everything changes when he learns that he may lose his son forever—his ex-wife and her new husband, Ted, want to adopt Petey.
As Hal decides to spend some time with his son, he receives a call from his estranged brother, Bill. Bill shares the news that their aunt Ida has died in a freak accident. He believes the monkey is back and that someone has been winding the key. Hal realizes his brother is right when he witnesses a woman literally explode in front of him after getting electrocuted in a motel pool.
Read More: The Monkey (2025) Movie Review: A Sneering Horror-Comedy More Tiresome Than Bananas
This leads Hal to visit his aunt’s house, with Petey tagging along. The realtor handling Ida’s house meets with Hal, who is visibly nervous and disturbed at the thought of uncovering more information. Barbara (the realtor) shares that ever since his aunt’s death, there have been several strange occurrences in town, including multiple deaths. However, during a tour of the empty house, Barbara manages to open a locked storage room door—only for a shotgun to fall and go off, blowing her face off and killing her instantly.
The Monkey (2025) Movie Ending Explained:
Was the toy monkey truly responsible for all the deaths?
After the incident, Hal and Petey go to Ida’s house, only to discover that Bill lives nearby—and he has the monkey. It turns out Bill got the monkey from a young boy named Ricky, who had found it at a garage sale organized by Barbara for the very house where she died. Bill has always believed that his brother, Hal, was responsible for their mother’s death while trying to get him killed. He had been waiting for years for the monkey to return. He even planned revenge against Hal, but instead of killing his brother, the monkey has been targeting random people.
Bill also has a theory about the “killer monkey”—whoever winds the key is safe from becoming its next victim. So, he tells Hal that he will allow Petey—Hal’s son—to wind the key to keep him safe. If Hal refuses to bring Petey to him, Bill will continue winding the monkey’s key until Hal dies. This also means he doesn’t care how many people have to die in the process.
Sick of the lifelong trauma it has caused him, Hal refuses to let Petey fall for his brother’s bait. Unfortunately, Ricky is obsessed with having the monkey back in his life. He forces Hal and Petey to retrieve it from Bill’s place. However, when Petey finally visits Bill, he ends up winding the key—despite his father’s warnings. Immediately after, Ricky is bizarrely killed by a swarm of wasps. Hal rushes inside the house to find Petey, but Bill is even more frustrated to see his brother still alive. Desperate, he shakes the monkey, forcing it to drum without winding the key. Instead of killing Hal, the monkey starts drumming like a maniac, causing chaos everywhere.
Realizing that the grudge he has held over their mother’s death and his fixation on his brother’s demise are leading nowhere, Bill finally makes peace with Hal. It turns out both twins were equally traumatized by their mother’s death, and with an absent father, neither of them ever learned how to process life. They apologize to each other—only for the monkey to beat the drum one last time. Strangely, a bowling ball with the name “Lois” written on it falls, decapitating Bill.
The ending of The Monkey shows Hal and Petey driving through town as the monkey’s wrath continues, its drumming still echoing. Accepting that they must keep the monkey with them forever to prevent anyone else from finding it, the father and son make their peace with the curse. During their journey, they encounter an old man—ashen and with burnt flames flickering off his back—riding by on a horse. By this point, strangeness doesn’t even feel strange anymore. The man on the horse acknowledges Hal and silently rides away.
In the final scene of The Monkey, Hal suggests that Petey go dancing, recalling how, despite grim circumstances, their mother, Lois, always danced with the boys.
