SAN JOSE, CALIF.—The new comedy-horror movie “The Monkey”, released on Feb. 21, 2025, has left viewers with mixed opinions. 

“The Monkey” is a comedy-horror movie that follows the story of how twin brothers find an evil toy monkey in their home whose evil doings follow them through their adult lives. What is extraordinary about this monkey, though, is that every time someone turns the key to operate it, someone close to them immediately dies in a gruesome way. The only way to avoid death is not to turn the key. 

The movie doesn’t waste time demonstrating how dangerous the monkey truly is by giving some background on how it ended up in their family in the first place. Their dad was the one who somehow ended up with the monkey, and he had to deal with death around him until he passed away. Among his belongings was the toy monkey, now discovered by the brothers after looking through them. Without knowing what would happen, they turned the key, and someone died. One of the twins suspected it was the monkey’s doing, so he turned the key, requesting for the monkey to kill his bully of a brother, but the monkey didn’t take requests, and someone else ended up dying, and their lives were changed. 

That decision comes back to haunt them 25 years later when the monkey returns after the brothers thought they got rid of it for good. Someone got their hands on it and started up the monkey’s killing spree all over again. This upsurge forces the brothers to reunite and stop whoever is turning the key on the monkey.  

I thought the movie was very entertaining with a good mix of horror and comedy. A lot of the killing scenes were very gory and bloody so if that type of stuff makes you queasy I wouldn’t recommend watching it, but if not, I recommend you give it a watch. In terms of comedy, there were scenes with sibling humor, perfectly cut scenes, 

The one thing I didn’t like about the movie was the ending. It seemed a bit rushed and left me with unanswered questions. Because of the pacing, I have to give the movie an 8/10. My favorite scene was when one of the brothers was dreaming and the scene had lots of colors so it looked like a kaleidoscope. 

I watched the movie with friends including my brother; Jorge Corona, a Silver Creek High School sophomore. 

He rated the movie an 8/10 too because he enjoyed the theatre experience and comedy. “It kind of reminded me of Chucky, but less serious,” Corona says. 

“The best part was when the priest made a speech during the funeral because it was obvious he wasn’t very qualified,” Corona said.  

Overall, I recommend the movie to those who want to laugh and enjoy a good movie. The ending for me was too rushed so a sequel would be a good idea to expand more on the plots that felt unfinished. I would rewatch it to use as background noise, or if it ever gets put on Netflix, but other than that I wouldn’t pay again to watch.