The Monkey’s Paw released June 17 from Scream Factory.
I’ve always sort of assumed that the mythology of “The Monkey’s Paw” was an anonymous legend pulled from oral tradition, but it turns out that it’s sourced from a short story by Victorian writer William “W. W.” Jacobs. The general idea is that the paw is a mysterious talisman which grants the owner three wishes, but the paw is actually malicious. It grants the wishes but they take form in ironic or unexpected ways which end up making things much worse. This is the price for trying to meddle with fate. This film adaptation takes the general premise of the short story and applies it to an updated setting and original characters.
Jake Tilton (C. J. Thomason) is a young blue collar worker who labors in a warehouse job along with some friends including older pal Tony Cobb (Stephen Lang, Avatar — but I won’t hold that against him). They’re both generally unhappy with their low pay and inability to get out of their respective ruts. Tony laments that his ex makes it impossible for him to see his own son, and Jake is still in love with his own ex — who later went on to marry their uptight boss, Kevin. Jake and Tony share a good rapport and a genuine friendship that helps ease some of their burdens.
Without getting into all the details, Jake is given a monkey’s paw with the promise that it can grant three wishes. As he and Tony are driving late at night, they accidentally swerve off the road and Tony is thrown from the car and killed. Not knowing what else to do, Jake uses a wish to bring Tony back to life.
Tony returns, but as a soulless ghoul. Though he was jovial and good-natured in life, in this state he is turned cruel and twisted, fueled entirely by selfish desires. I read a commenter on IMDb compare the transformation to Pet Sematary, and I wish I’d thought of that myself — it’s a perfect, spot-on reference. This resurrected but soulless version of Tony is willing to do whatever it takes — including terrorizing Jake for control of the Monkey’s Paw, and killing anyone in his way — to gain what he wanted most in his life: access to his son. It’s a tragic and compelling motivation.
For anyone who is familiar with the Monkey’s Paw mythos, even if only from cultural references like The Simpsons, in a broad sense the film plays out pretty much the way you’d probably expect it to. The film is stylish and has good, strong characters, but is somewhat predictable and not especially scary. Once Tony goes bad and starts killing, this presented a chance for some slasher material — but while there are a couple of memorable kills, it never takes off full bore in this direction. Some might call this restraint, but I think it could’ve made things more interesting. As it stands, the warehouse kill is probably the most memorable scene in the film, prompting me to think, “more like that”. Stephen Lang does a great job with the role of Tony, likeable in the earlier scenes as a supportive friend and believably menacing in ghoulish killer mode.
Thematically, the film retains the same message as the original tale: Attempts to cheat fate just end up making things much, much worse.
THE PACKAGE
The Monkey’s Paw lands on Blu-Ray and DVD from the horror heroes at Scream Factory. My copy included a slipcase and I dig the cover art.
The film is Not Rated but is basically R material including violence and some gore.
Special Features
“Making The Monkey’s Paw”
This is not actually a making-of feature, but a short interview segment in which members of the cast and crew discuss the film and its themes. Referred on the packaging as “A Look Behind The Scenes”.
Audio Commentary With Director Brett Simmons, Cinematographer Scott Winig, and Actor C.J. Thomason
Theatrical Trailer
Despite some great performances and general high production values, The Monkey’s Paw isn’t really scary or unique enough to make it stand out from the pack for me. It was an entertaining movie but I wish they’d played up either the supernatural or slasher elements more sharply. The Blu-Ray itself is a nice package, and a worthwhile pickup for fans of the film.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
The Monkey’s Paw (2013) — [Blu-Ray] | [DVD]