First teaser for Longlegs director’s new horror movie is a creepy taste of one of Stephen King’s scariest stories

The best horror movie trailers should get under your skin and give little away. In an era of undercooked teasers, The Monkey stands triumphant as an example of a glimpse done right – and it sure helps that it’s got Longlegs director Osgood Perkins and producer James Wan on board in an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Monkey.

As you can see above, The Monkey teaser focuses on the titular primate who – in this instance – is a drum-playing monkey toy.

Little else is shown in the 45-second teaser but the ominous percussion beat accompanied by sinister-sounding summer fairground music of ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’ should be enough for The Monkey to burrow its way into your mind until next year’s release. A short interlude at the end, however, reveals a human element to proceedings – and it’s suitably bloodsoaked. A slightly different teaser was shown in front of Cuckoo in cinemas this weekend.

The Monkey’s synopsis reads: “When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.”

The Monkey, published in its final form in King’s seminal short story collection Skeleton Crew in 1985, also features two brothers discovering a cursed monkey toy in a family home, suggesting this is going to be a pretty close adaptation of at least the setup in the source material.. While we won’t spoil the surprise here, the banging of the musical instrument in The Monkey’s teaser is most certainly bad news for anyone who hears it.

It’s the next project in line for Perkins, whose latest film Longlegs – starring Nicolas Cage as the titular serial killer – grossed over $90m at the box office.

Speaking to Discussing Film, Perkins says The Monkey “couldn’t be more different” to Longlegs. 

“It’s tonally comedic, it’s touching, it’s sentimental, it’s disgusting, it’s impish, it’s pretty textured in a lot of fun,” Perkins teased.

The new horror movie, set for release on February 21, 2025, stars Theo James as both Bill and Hal, She-Hulk’s Tatiana Maslany, and Elijah Wood. 

For more, check out the latest on the upcoming horror movies set to scare you silly in 2024.