Everyone has their own favorite Stephen King adaptation. For some, the King-scripted works (see: Mick Garris’ The Shining, original work Rose Red) are the best. For others, the exploitative, midnight madness features like Maximum Overdrive or The Night Flier reign supreme. Some just love the classics. You know, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining or Lewis Teague’s Cujo?
With so much Stephen King (literally all the time), it can be hard to narrow down a favorite. After all, while King is principally acclaimed for his horror writing, some of his most successful works, and subsequent adaptations, are anything but. Considering only my own perspective, I’d argue the best Stephen King adaptation of the century—yes, entire century—is also one of the most recent. Better still, you can catch the insane horror picture streaming on Hulu now.
Learn more below:
Per Hulu: When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tears their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree, forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
The Monkey was a big deal. Not only was it an unconventional Stephen King adaptation, but it was also the general audience’s first taste of Osgood Perkins after Longlegs dominated the horror conversation the previous summer. Both proved to be polarizing, and in The Monkey’s case, audiences largely consider it either one of the best or worst King adaptations, with little nuance in the middle. I loved it. The Monkey was nasty, gory, stupendously funny, and genuinely touching as a blood-fueled confrontation of generational grief. Few movies this year proved quite so consistently entertaining and substantive, and it’s earnestly the first King adaptation this century that really feels like a classic in the making.
In our review of The Monkey earlier this year, we called the film an “Excellent existential bloodbath,” adding, “The film thrives on its ability to balance gallows humor with brutal, inventive horror, making it both a visceral thrill ride and a surprisingly profound meditation on fate. Whether you come for the carnage or stay for the existential crisis, The Monkey delivers something uniquely unsettling and oddly cathartic.”
What do you think? Any plans to check out The Monkey on Hulu? If you disagree with me, share your favorite Stephen King adaptation of the century with me over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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