The Monkey’s unstoppable carnage made me laugh in shock

The Monkey has finally arrived in cinemas, after drumming up enormous expectations for weeks.

More than 100,000,000 people watched the creepy film’s trailer in the first 72 hours online, with it later banned on TV by major US networks for ‘excessive violence’.

An indie horror flick based on a Stephen King story about a demonic possessed toy, The Monkey has angled itself to audiences as revelling in the absurdity and grossness of death – which is, happily for those intrigued by that, exactly what it does.

The movie is a campy, blood-spattered death fest sure to entertain fans with its liberal body matter, carnage and swearing. After all, who doesn’t want an overly relaxed priest beginning a funeral with an F-bomb?

It’s directed by Osgood Perkins, hot off the success of horror hit Longlegs with Nicolas Cage and ready to show different shades to his masterful grip of the genre. This one is sold – accurately – as a horror comedy, so there’s less deeply unsettling tension and far more mangled body parts.

Theo James stars in the dual role of twins Hal and Bill, who discover a vintage toy monkey belonging to their father in the attic as youngsters (played by Christian Convery). Unfortunately for them, it leads to a string of horrifying deaths which they later link back to the ‘like life’ (not ‘life-like’ – creepily important) monkey.

James gets to have fun distinguishing between the abrasive jerk Bill and the more reserved, perpetually worried Hal – our narrator – as he tries to rid himself and his loved ones of the wind-up drumming monkey.