Warning: SPOILERS for The Monkey.The horror comedy The Monkey delivers a dark message in between the laughs, but there’s actually a brighter lesson to be found when looking at how that theme plays out in the movie. Like The Monkey‘s Stephen King inspiration, the movie follows a musician monkey toy as it causes supernatural carnage across a small town in Maine, the state that seems to have the highest body count in King’s universe. The Monkey‘s ending sees nearly an entire town thrown into chaos, with the monkey toy still intact.

Writer-director Osgood Perkins doesn’t follow King’s story precisely, essentially borrowing little more than the basic premise and a couple of character names. But many of The Monkey‘s book differences actually serve to complement the film’s overall theme. The Monkey focuses primarily on its comedic aspects, but a single death toward the end of the first act sets off a chain of personality shifts in the main characters that bear responsibility for almost all the movie’s more serious moments. And, as the protagonist himself explains, these darker moments have a potentially hard-to-swallow theme.

The Monkey’s Primary Theme Is The Unpredictability Of Life And Death

You Never Know When You Might Dive Into A Pool And Just Explode

Stephen King’s review of The Monkey is largely focused on the unpredictability of its comedy, but the film’s narrative focuses strongly on the unpredictability of life itself. Anything can happen at any time, which raises the tension in any scene where the monkey starts banging its drum in the vicinity of more than one character. Protagonist Hal (Theo James) addresses this theme succinctly when he shouts at his son Petey (Colin O’Brien) that literally everything is an accident, which is a harsh statement considering he’s actually talking about Petey’s birth but still an accurate ᴀssessment of most life experiences.

It’s not uncommon for director Osgood Perkins’ horror movies to address heavy themes, with his previous films exploring loss, isolation, and the fact that Nicolas Cage’s debts deprived us of movies like Longlegs for far too long. But despite leaning mostly toward comedy, The Monkey‘s theme of unpredictability strengthens its effectiveness as a horror movie. Nobody likely worries about finding cobras in Maine or having their esophagus invaded by a hive of wasps, but The Monkey‘s reminder that death can lurk on any corner still makes the world a pretty terrifying place to live.

Hal’s Speech To Bill Highlights Why Lack Of Control Isn’t Necessarily A Bad Thing

He Gets Through To Bill Right Before That Bowling Ball Goes Through Him

Most Stephen King adaptations don’t exactly end with a positive message. We’re not supposed to watch Pet Sematary and then go digging up our backyard to try and instigate a fuzzy reunion. But The Monkey ends on the note that life’s unpredictability and constant threats of impalement free us from feeling responsible for the tragedies we face. It’s easy to beat ourselves up if we think we could have saved someone or if we’d left things unsaid before they died, but guilt and blame have no place in a world where death can happen at any time.

This message plays a major role following The Monkey‘s villain twist, in which it’s learned that Hal’s brother Bill (also James) is using the monkey to punish Hal for their mother’s death. Bill kills half a town in his quest for revenge, but Hal helps him accept that fates and consequences can’t always be controlled. Not only does this concept free us from guilt, but it also serves as a reminder to enjoy every second we’ve got. We might wind up being decapitated by our mother’s bowling ball any day now, so we may as well live heartily while we can.

Both Sides Of The Monkey’s Theme Trace Perfectly Back To Lois

Her Disillusionment Actually Leads To Her Happiest Moments

The Monkey‘s Tatiana Maslany doesn’t get as much screen time as she probably could have, but her role is nonetheless central to the film’s overall theme. While The Monkey delivers nothing but laughs throughout most of the first act, the death of Lois is a lingering presence accounting for every serious scene in the movie. Bill’s angst is wrapped around him more тιԍнтly than his flame-emblazoned cummerbund, and Hal can’t have a relationship with his own son because he worries his presence in anyone’s life will sound a death knell.

But while Lois dying when Hal expected a different outcome establishes the theme of death’s suddenness, her character exemplifies the concept of living life while able. Lois seems completely disillusioned since her husband left, but she can still savor a moment. The Monkey ends with Hal suggesting he and Petey go dancing despite being surrounded by death, an idea he explicitly learned from Lois. Her end might be the single most heartbreaking moment in the film, but her ability to keep living fully when faced with death should be instructive for anyone who’s ever questioned the value of grief.