Osgood Perkins on Making ‘The Monkey’ With Guts Cannons, Gallons of Blood and a Personal Touch

variety.com:

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Osgood Perkins has guts – literally and metaphorically. The filmmaker knew it wouldn’t work to be precious when adapting “The Monkey,” a short story by Stephen King, hitting theaters Friday.

So Perkins held nothing back. “You can’t worry about offending an audience; you can’t focus on honoring it too closely,” he notes. “There’s no pandering going on.

There’s no timid storytelling. You have to have the guts to execute it.” He means it physically as well — his effects artists developed objects referred to as “guts cannons” and trucks loaded full of blood to kill people in increasingly gory and creative ways.It’s a faster pace for Perkins, who has mastered the art of discomfort with slow-burn, atmospheric films like last year’s hit “Longlegs.” And the plot is simple: Theo James stars as twins whose lives have been cursed by the existence of a wind-up toy monkey that, if you turn its key, someone dies.

Co-starring Tatiana Maslany and Elijah Wood, the result is a roller coaster ride of gristle and laughter, but also a surprisingly thoughtful meditation on trauma and grief.