Longlegs director Osgood Perkins is tackling a Stephen King adaptation for his next project.
On Monday, Neon released the first teaser for The Monkey, a supernatural horror film based on King’s 1980 short story of the same name. Set to eerie carnival music, the short footage depicts an evil monkey tapping a drum as a bloodied Theo James stares in disbelief.
James stars in dual roles as Hal and Bill, twin brothers who stumble upon their father’s old toy monkey in the attic. After witnessing hideous deaths in their lives, the brothers throw away the monkey and go their separate ways. When the puzzling deaths eventually resume, Hal and Bill reunite to eliminate the monkey and stop the violence.
Besides James, The Monkey stars Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy. Christian Convery will play younger versions of Hal and Bill.
Perkins writes and directs The Monkey. Atomic Monster’s James Wan, the visionary behind the Insidious and Conjuring franchises, will produce The Monkey with Michael Clear, Dave Caplan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Chris Ferguson. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in February and lasted until late March. Neon will distribute The Monkey after winning a bidding war at the Cannes Film Market.
Perkins is currently experiencing a career surge due to the success of Longlegs. Written and directed by Perkins, Longlegs stars Maika Monroe as an FBI agent tasked with hunting a notorious serial killer played by Nicolas Cage. Longlegs shattered expectations with an opening weekend of $22.4 million domestically. As of August 12, Longlegs is Neon’s highest-grossing film ever with $90 million and counting.
The Monkey arrives in theaters on February 21, 2025.
