The Monkey ending explained: What does the horse rider mean?

The result is a film that takes a slightly different approach to the genre than his previous film, one more concerned with inventively gory kill scenes than the patient build-up of atmosphere and dread, but one thing that the two films have in common is that they both have memorable final scenes.

The Monkey largely revolves around twin brothers Hal and Bill (played by Christian Convery as kids and Theo James as adults) and the cursed toy monkey they find in a cupboard containing a bunch of old junk belonging to their father.

Soon after finding it, a horrifying series of murders takes place – a pattern which then suddenly repeats several years later when the twins are now estranged adults. That leads to a rather uneasy reunion between the pair in the final moments.

Seen the new film and want those closing scenes unpacked? Read on to have The Monkey ending explained.

The Monkey ending explained: What does the horse rider mean?

When the deaths begin to pile up again, adult Hal does some investigating and stumbles upon a major discovery: it was his brother Bill who was responsible for the monkey resurfacing.

Turns out, Bill is seeking revenge after blaming Hal for the death of their mother many years earlier – and is now hoping to kill off his twin by turning the key to the monkey as many times as it takes.

Only, as had been established earlier in the film, it's impossible for the key turner to decide whose death the monkey will cause: it decides that for itself. And so each time Bill turns the key, another local resident meets an incredibly gory demise, resulting in all manner of elaborate and gruesome deaths.

Anyhow, when Hal and Bill – along with the former's son Petey – finally reunite in the latter's booby-trapped lair, they appear to hash things out, only for the monkey to commit one last murder when Bill is horrifically decapitated by a bowling bowl.

Hal and Petey then leave the scene with the monkey and accept that they own it now, but promise that they will ensure the key is never turned again. As they drive away, the town is still in complete chaos due to the sheer number of times Bill had turned the key before, and amidst the carnage they are approached by a pale horse rider – who very much resembles the grim reaper.

Hal and this embodiment of death then share a nod, and it appears as if the rider has essentially gives him the all-clear – which seems to suggest they have escaped death, for now.

But one of the key themes of the film is that death and freak accidents are chaotic and random, and can't necessarily be predicted or avoided. This is summed up by the film's very final shot, which shows a bus full of cheerleaders sticking their heads out of the window, only for a van to drive along and decapitate every last one of them. Talk about a brutal ending...

How does the end of The Monkey differ to the Stephen King story?

Quite a lot. Although the short story on which the film is based shares the same premise and similar themes, it goes in a considerably different direction in its final act.

In the King story, Hal rows all the way out to the deepest parts of a nearby lake and tries to get rid of the monkey by weighing it down with rocks and dropping it. When he lets go, he can still hear the monkey's unmistakable noise and the boat begins to break – leaving him to swim back to shore.

At the very end, we learn that hundreds of fish have died as a result of the monkey being dropped in the lake.

Interestingly, one other alteration from the source material concerns the design of the monkey itself: in the book, he has a pair of crashing cymbals – but that's been replaced by a drum for the film.

According to Perkins, the change was made because Disney had copyrighted a cymbal-crashing monkey after one famously appeared in Toy Story 3.

As he told GamesRadar+: "When I was given the assignment, the producer said, 'Oh, by the way, Disney owns the cymbals, because of Toy Story.' So it couldn't be cymbals. What if it was a drum?

"It's one of those things where a limitation becomes an opportunity. If you're making movies, and you're not up for that adage, then you're in real trouble! I was like, 'Hey, that's awesome. The drum is better.' The drum is like a marching drum. It's like, 'Drum roll, please!' before something happens. That's better than cymbals. So thanks, Disney. I prefer it!"

Does The Monkey have a post-credits scene?

No, the Monkey doesn't have a traditional post-credits scene – but if you do stay behind after the credits stop rolling there is a brief surprise in the form of a short teaser for Perkins's next horror film, titled Keeper.

The film is due for release later in 2025 and stars Tatiana Maslany – who also has an important role in The Monkey. Perkins is certainly prolific!

The Monkey is now showing in UK cinemas.

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