Stephen King’s The Monkey: Drums, Cymbals, and Actually Testing an Old Adage

This weekend as promised, I saw and read, Stephen King’s The Monkey. Actually, if you read it, you’ll need to pick up the collection of short stories called Skeleton Crew. Don’t worry though, this one has The Mist in it too. There’s plenty to read outside the about 50ish pages that make up The Monkey story. It’s a thick book of shorties.

I always recommend reading the book first because, as every reader knows, the book is ALWAYS better. Ah. Well. Honestly, I can’t think of another example but. I assure you I feel deep shame as I say this. I liked the movie better this time. I will repent to the literary gods. Are they still accepting Visa or are they going to all crypto these days?

There are a lot of differences just from the jump. First, the monkey in the movie plays the drums and in the book it’s one of those cymbal clanging ones. I’m not sure why the change there, but I’m not sure it matters. Maybe it’s because the sound of the cymbals would have driven everyone mad before they finished the film. You have to consider these things. Unless you’re Kubrick and that is your intent. He’d have picked cymbals. The entire family dynamic is different. In the movie, the brothers (twins for the movie, obviously to allow Theo James more screen time) estrangement is a critical piece of the narrative. In the book, they’re basically normal brothers. The father-son relationship is strained in the movie and in the book is pretty standard, although with the usual hinting at abuse that King loves to add.

Aside from a monkey toy that kills people when it plays it’s little instrument and a father that would prefer it not kill his son Petey, the entire story plays out differently. The book was…fine…I guess. It wasn’t scary or funny. I would have glazed past it in favor of other stories in Skelton Crew if I hadn’t been specifically reading this one. I didn’t find it insightful, like a lot of King’s short stories or particularly care about Hal or his kids. Sorry kids, be more interesting. Actually, reading it, I was surprised it was picked for an adaptation.

The movie changes all the dynamics and the mood of the story. Suddenly, everything is framed from a very jaded perspective. This isn’t a normal family. They are all the way jacked up because of this stupid monkey. It hangs like a malevolent fog over their lives. And yet, the movie approaches this with dark humor instead of oppressing dread. You’ll jump because that monkey is scary as shit. But more often you’ll laugh at the catastrophic deaths. Think Final Destination meets Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. I’m sure this will make our good times movie rotation. But then again, maybe everyone doesn’t watch insane movies to relax.

I’m astounded that the movie was so good. The book just wasn’t that great, and this has never, ever happened. Ever. And it shouldn’t. Don’t do this again. Maybe after 40 years, King thought of a better way to present the story. You have to write it first, dude. We can’t be having better movie adaptations. It’s confusing and upsetting. I needed like 10 minutes to process before I could go about my life again.