Stephen King’s Cursed Toy Tale Lands on Hulu: Here’s Why I’m Watching
Twisted deaths, dark comedy, and a monkey you’ll never forget.
Let me be honest — 2025 hasn’t exactly been the strongest year for horror. But when The Monkey hit theatres, something about its strange, gory absurdity clicked. Now, it’s landing on Hulu on August 7, and trust me, I’m counting down the days.
Directed by Osgood Perkins (who’s slowly becoming one of my favourite horror minds), this film is loosely based on Stephen King’s short story from Skeleton Crew. And I say "loosely" because The Monkey doesn’t even try to play it straight — it’s bonkers, hilarious, and unapologetically weird.
The story? Twin brothers discover a creepy wind-up monkey toy that, naturally, triggers a wave of mysterious deaths. Fast-forward 25 years, and guess what? The monkey’s curse is back. Cue family trauma, estranged siblings, and one deeply cursed toy that feels like Chucky’s drunk cousin.
I love that Perkins didn’t water this down to fit some studio horror template. It’s raw, playful, and gory in all the right places. Critics got it (77% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences not so much (56%), but that kind of divide? That just proves The Monkey is doing something different.
