Writer-director Osgood Perkins, who brought us last year’s sinister Longlegs, has adapted Stephen King’s Orphan Black actress Tatiana Maslany as Hal and Bill’s mother, Lois.

From IT to The Boogeyman, King’s books, short stories, and novellas have been perfect narratives for adaptations. These adaptations often expand on the author’s stories, in particular, offering a bigger picture look at its premise. But while horror adaptations like Carrie and The Shining are especially terrifying and unsettling, The Monkey is more of a horror comedy than anything. That’s not to say it doesn’t play into certain horror tropes — it does — but it also doesn’t take itself too seriously.

And yet, The Monkey isn’t rated PG-13, but R, leaning into its horror and violence characteristics to give audiences an experience they won’t forget so quickly. This is especially true when it comes to the film’s horror kills, of which there are many and each is unique and sure to elicit a reaction.

Why The Monkey Is Rated R

The Monkey is rated R for “strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references.” As the MPA’s reasons state, Perkins’ horror movie has a lot of blood and violence littered throughout. Bill says a lot of mean things to his brother and most of what comes out of his mouth isn’t clean. That includes a plethora of cursing, though this is certainly not as prevalent as the gore and violent content of the film, which takes up the majority of its runtime.

Primarily, however, The Monkey’s R-rating stems from the excessive carnage. This is present from the film’s first scene to its very last one, completely justifying its rating. The toy monkey goes after plenty of characters and no one is really safe from death after that key is turned. Crucially, the toy monkey doesn’t seem interested in giving anyone in the movie a peaceful death. Perkins goes the route of giving us completely unhinged deaths, which heavily plays into the rating’s description.

How Scary & Violent The Monkey Is Compared To Other Stephen King Movies

When comparing The Monkey to other Stephen King movies, Perkins’ film is quite tame when it comes to the scary aspects. The Monkey isn’t very terrifying at all. There are nearly no jump scares and very few creepy moments. This is perhaps because it’s a horror comedy, with the latter balancing and even removing the story’s more horrific elements. For every gruesome moment, there’s a lighter one just waiting to ease our rattled nerves. Once you settle into the gorier aspects of the film, the anticipation for what comes next is lessened because the frightful characteristics are watered down.

The Monkey leans more on its violence to tell its story, though the disconcertment comes from not knowing who might die next or how it will happen.

The Monkey is no IT or even Gerald’s Game, where there’s plenty of suspense and heightened awareness of every move. The Monkey has little to no horror tension, though it is more violent than recent offerings like The Boogeyman, Salem’s Lot, and 2020’s Children of the Corn. I can’t stress enough how violent and gory The Monkey is. Sliced heads and exploding bodies are some of the horrific visuals awaiting audiences, as well as close-ups of bloodied inner body parts and killings involving domestic items. In that regard, The Monkey leaves no stone unturned.

How Scary & Violent The Monkey Is Compared To Osgood Perkins' Longlegs

Despite both movies being directed by Osgood Perkins, The Monkey and Longlegs are two very different films with their own unique themes. I’m not sure if they could be properly compared to one another because their premises and story executions are so wildly disparate, but The Monkey is less scary but more violent overall. Longlegs’ killer is a serial killer while The Monkey’s is, well, a vintage toy monkey.

Unlike The Monkey, Perkins didn't adapt Longlegs from a short story or book.

The former is scary in a deeply unsettling and eerie way while the latter is more gruesome, over-the-top, and even excessive in its violence. Longlegs is certainly the creepier of the two, especially since we get to know more about Nicolas Cage’s title character and his motivations. The Monkey leans more on its violence to tell its story, though the disconcertment comes from not knowing who might die next or how it will happen.

The Monkey has a lot of fun with its horror kills while Longlegs’ violence is scarier precisely because it’s so close to the surface of realism. The Monkey engages with the entertainment aspect of its premise while Longlegs throws us off and disturbs us with its killer’s actions. A killer toy monkey can’t necessarily compare to a human killer, but Perkins has a different approach to each of the film’s violence, which also makes each viewing experience distinct.