Fresh off the success of “Longlegs” this past year, writer-director Osgood Perkins has put out yet another horror blockbuster in theaters. This time, in place of an original feature, he has chosen “The Monkey,” one of dozens of short stories from Stephen King’s “Skeleton Crew” novel, has worked once again with the help of rising indie go-to studio NEON and even scored horror icon James Wan as a producer under his production company Atomic Monster. While it is an absolutely different horror tale than his previous feature, “The Monkey” is no less stellar and helps to prove that Perkins is a name to look out for in the horror genre.

“The Monkey” centers around twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn, played both by Christian Convery and Theo James. As a child, Hal (Convery) discovers a wind-up drumming monkey in their deadbeat father’s closet, only for the brothers to quickly learn the toy’s demonic nature when several people end up murdered in increasingly extreme ways. After believing to have destroyed and abandoned the toy, Hal and Bill (also Convery) grow up and drift apart, but as adults (James as both) slowly realize that the monkey has returned to wreak havoc on humanity. Hal must reconnect with his estranged son Petey (Colin O’Brien) to find Bill and destroy the monkey once and for all.

It really cannot be stated how different “The Monkey” is from “Longlegs,” or even the other films Perkins made beforehand. This is not a slow burn horror dependent on its atmosphere and leering sense of dread; this is a full-blown horror-comedy with wildly profane children, an almost absurdist nature to the world and, of course, hysterically over-the-top kills straight out of the likes of “Final Destination.” Yet, in spite of how different it is, “The Monkey” never ceases to entertain, both with how self-aware and unserious Perkins’ script is written, his vibrant and attentive direction and the lightning fast pacing that keeps the audience on edge for the entire runtime.

From its opening moments where a shopkeeper has his guts ripped out by a harpoon gun, to a realtor being blown to pieces by a mysteriously placed shotgun and painting the room red, the kills in “The Monkey” are as crude and insane as they come, and yet every single one delivers. The entire audience I sat with laughed hysterically at several of the deaths in this film, and in a rare twist for horror where the films play these hilarious kills with utmost sincerity, that comedy was completely intentional. Much like “Longlegs,” which explored the very nature of death in a gruesome and tense way, that theme plays a key role in the film. Hal and Bill’s mother Lois, played by Tatiana Maslany, outright says “Everybody dies, and that’s life” at one point. But while “Longlegs” played that theme seriously and for maximum dread, “The Monkey” manages to have some fun with it and make it a joy to watch.

Hal is distant and awkward, having an intentionally estranged relationship with Petey to protect him from the curse he has carried most of his life, and while James delivers a great deal of comedy with the script, he also manages to give the film a genuine sense of heart as Hal tries desperately to protect and reconnect with his son. Bill is far more crass and reckless, endangering others in his own quest to find the toy while guiding his brother along, and both Convery and James portray him just as well and make the two stand out expertly, switching effortlessly from Hal’s awkward emotion and Bill’s crude anger. Maslany delivers a great performance as Lois, even with the limited screen time she has, Elijah Wood surprises as a religious nut trying to adopt Petey in Hal’s absence and Nicco Del Rio’s scene as a pastor when Hal and Bill are kids is immediately iconic and had me and the audiences in tears with his hysterical monologue early into the film.

It is a rare case when I really do not have the words to describe a film that I love, especially without going into it for long enough to practically write a thesis on it, and this is one of those cases here. I do not have much else to say aside from the fact I absolutely adored the film as a whole. With a tight and beautifully chaotic plot, excellent aesthetic and effects, great acting all-around and hilarious and raucous kills to spare, the film is yet another hit not just for Osgood Perkins, but the horror genre as a whole.