The Monkey’s ending involves a whole lot of death.The Monkey, written and directed byLonglegsfilmmaker Osgood Perkins, sees Hal and Bill — played by Theo James as an adult and Christian Convery as the younger versions — at odds with each other for the majority of the film. They each have a relationship with the monkey and have both asked it to kill someone on their behalf. Of course, that doesn’t work out, but Bill tries anyway.
By the end ofStephen King’s horror adaptation, Ricky, who was hired to retrieve the monkey for Bill and wanted it back because it made him feel close to his dad, was killed after bees flew into his mouth. Frustrated the monkey wouldn’t kill Hal, Bill shook it, attempting to force it to do his bidding. That leads to multiple deaths in town. Hal finally goes in after Petey and has a stand-off with his twin brother, who reveals he found out about Hal’s desire for the monkey to kill him after they threw the toy down the well.
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Ultimately, the twin brothers reconcile, with Bill, after a few attempts, taking Hal’s hand to help him up. The reconciliation and any hope for their future relationship is short-lived, however, when their mother’s bowling ball shoots out from one of Bill’s traps and takes off his head in the process. Thereafter, Hal and Petey leave Bill’s place behind and drive through the wreckage the monkey has brought upon the town and its people. On their way out of town, Hal and Petey spot a pale rider, who nods at them before galloping away.
Who Is The Pale Rider On The Horse In The Monkey’s Ending
Thepale rider inThe Monkey’s endingis a reference to death. In an interview,Perkins said he wanted to embraceThe Monkey’s chaosby throwing in symbolism from the Bible. The reference is to Revelations 6:8, in which a pale horse appears and on it rides Death. This makes sense in the film considering Hal had seen multiple people die because of the vintage toy over the years. And after the monkey killed so many of the townspeople at film’s end, the pale rider’s appearance is a nod to all the deaths that had recently happened.
Why Hal Keeps The Monkey & Where He’s Taking It
Instead of throwing the toy monkey away, Hal decides to keep it with him.Leaving the monkey behind would have been too dangerousbecause anyone else could have gotten their hands on it. Hal already knows what the monkey is capable of so it makes sense he would keep the kill-happy toy with him from now on. If he and Petey never turn the key again, it’s unlikely any more deaths could happen. Plus, Hal has already tried getting rid of the monkey multiple times before and that has always come back to haunt him in some way.
“I Took Liberties Like A Motherf**ker”: The Monkey Director Reveals Why He Turned A Stephen King Horror Story Into A Comedy (& How The Author Reacted)
Director Osgood Perkins explains how his take on The Monkey differs from Stephen King’s source material, and he reveals the author’s reaction.
With the help of Petey,Hal will likely keep the monkey stored and locked awayinside his home. Hal might want to get a bigger home with a basement or storage space so he can better keep the monkey locked away. Together,The Monkey’s castof characters can ensure it never falls into the hands of other people. Conversely, Hal could also rent out a storage space for the monkey to double up on security. Either way, it’ll be nearby enough to ensure the monkey doesn’t kill anyone else so long as Hal and Petey keep watch over it.
Bill’s Death In The Monkey’s Ending Explained
Bill, in what will surely become one ofTheo James’ best filmroles, is killed by Lois’ bowling ball smashing his head and slicing it off his body. Bill had spent years trying to avenge his mother by killing his twin brother, sothe fact he’s killed by a bowling ball that belonged to her is ironic. It also added to the film’s message about death: it can’t be controlled.Bill was focused so much on getting his revenge that he didn’t really spend any time living, which is the antithesis of what his mother wanted for him.
Played by Adam Scott, Hal and Bill’s dad, Captain Petey Shelburn, only appears once inThe Monkey’s opening scene. The toy monkey was a gift for his sons, but he knew early on the kind of carnage it could cause. Petey disappeared after that, with the twins’ mother calling him a deadbeat dad. The last we see of him, Petey is using a blowtorch on the monkey as its face starts to melt off. While it’s clear he’s no longer in the picture,Petey probably left his family after his deadly run-in with the monkey.
How The Character Is Killed
Bill
Head smashed by a bowling ball shot at him in close range
Brain aneurysm
Trampled by animals
Head sliced off
Head blown off by a close-range gun
Ricky
Swarm of bees entering his mouth
Petey probably thought he’d gotten rid of the monkey, only for it to show up again undamaged. It’s possible Petey left his sons to protect them, just as Hal believed only seeing his son Petey — named after Hal’s father — once a year would protect him. The details of Petey’s whereabouts remain a mystery inThe Monkeyand he’s only mentioned a handful of times. Based on thehorror film’s opening scene, we can deduce that Petey’s absence is because he loved his sons and not because he didn’t want to be around them.
How The Monkey’s Ending Is Different From Stephen King’s Book
The Monkey’s ending takes creative liberties and deviates heavily fromStephen King’s short story, which seesHal and Petey throwing the toy monkey, now weighed down by rocks in a bag, into the deep end of a lake. This act kills hundreds of fish and nearly kills Hal in the boat, which is destroyed after the monkey claps its cymbals together one last time. What’s more, King’s version ofThe Monkeydoesn’t have drumsticks for the monkey and Hal doesn’t have a twin. Hal also has two sons, though he only recruits Petey to help him with the monkey.
The ending ofThe Monkeyis not the only change Perkins makes to the short story. In the film, Hal doesn’t have any friends at all and so the tree house fall his friend Johnny takes is removed for the film. Revenge is also not a big element of the short story like it is in the film.
In the film, Hal and Bill have to come to terms with the things they did and moving forward with their lives. Meanwhile, Hal, who seems to have more trauma in the film, keeps the monkey instead of getting rid of it. But it manages to kill several people instead of fish, makingThe Monkey’s film ending far more gruesome than its short story counterpart.
How The Monkey’s Ending Sets Up A Sequel
The Monkeydoesn’t have a post-credits scene, but its ending sets up a potential sequel because it keeps the monkey with Hal instead of attempting to get rid of it again. A sequel could see the monkey falling into someone else’s hands, be it through theft or by way of some accidental event. This would kickstart more murders and introduce a new group of characters. A sequel could also focus on another toy with the ability to cause death. The monkey’s origins are a mystery, so a sequel could explore a different toy that came from the same place.
But instead of a sequel,The Monkeycould have a prequel focused on Hal and Bill’s dad. With such a mysterious disappearance, aMonkeyprequel could explore how Petey would up with the toy and what happened to him afterward. It’s a story that would nicely tie the two movies together and bring back Hal and young Petey without feeling forced. There’s a lot of potential surrounding the elder Petey’s story andThe Monkeydirector could expand on the world that’s already been established.
The Real Meaning Of The Monkey
Death is at the center ofThe Monkey. Death is constant, all around, and unexpected. While the film plays it for laughs in some instances,The Monkeyis about the fleetingness of life and how death — no matter the person’s age, position in life, or moral choices — is something that cannot be controlled. Bill tries his hardest to make the monkey kill who he wants, as does Hal when he’s younger, but to no avail. Death is random and doesn’t care about revenge or anger.
Everyone who dies in the film does so accidentally; the monkey speeds up this process (and perhaps makes it more gruesome) but it’s no less sudden. There’s no rhyme or reason for it — it’s “like life”, as the message on the monkey’s box states. It could happen to anyone at any time, which gives life itself a scary edge, andThe Monkey, though certainly over-the-top and creative in the way the characters are killed, keeps that top of mind.
The Monkey
The Monkey is a horror film focused on twin brothers who encounter a mysterious wind-up monkey responsible for a series of tragic events within their family. Twenty-five years later, the estranged brothers are compelled to face the cursed toy once again as it resumes its deadly rampage.
