The Monkey swings into cinemas – but is it scarier than Longlegs?

This was a film, we were told, that was so shocking that many viewers would be changed forever simply by submitting themselves to its evil power.

What's remarkable is that despite the overly hysterical tone of some of those early notices, Longlegs more or less managed to live up to the hype.

Perkins really had crafted something genuinely frightening – and made a film that would go on to break some impressive box office records in the process.

That combination of critical acclaim and commercial success ensured that whatever Perkins opted to do next was bound to be met with a great deal of attention and scrutiny, which brings us to his new film: The Monkey.

Arriving in UK cinemas this weekend, the film sees the director putting his own spin on a short story by genre maestro Stephen King, about a cursed wind-up toy monkey whose very presence causes a great number of outrageous deaths.

Throughout, we follow mismatched twin brothers Hal and Bill (played by Christian Convery as kids and Theo James as adults) as they are at once united and torn apart by the monkey, the gruesome power of which becomes increasingly clear as the film progresses. But the question is, is The Monkey as scary – or perhaps even scarier – then Longlegs?

Well, unfortunately, the short answer is no. In fact, it doesn't even come close.

Although once again back in the horror genre, the film finds Perkins operating in a rather different mode: one that's as much occupied with comedy as it is with scares. And sadly, this doesn't play into his strengths as a director nearly so well.

What made Longlegs such an impressive feat of filmmaking was the tremendous command of tone and atmosphere Perkins displayed. Whether Cage's titular serial killer was on screen or not, there was a constant feeling of dread – a slow-burning, creeping sense of unease – running through the film.

Coupled with the bleakness of the movie's subject matter and its embracement of dream logic and the uncanny, this made it a film that truly got under the skin in an almost inexplicable manner.

The Monkey is not without merit, but the thrills here are far more surface-level: it's main selling point is the myriad of inventive, elaborately accomplished and unfathomably gory kill scenes that wow in the moment but don't penetrate particularly deeply into the audience's psyche.

In truth, it often feels a little silly, which at times works to its advantage – including one enjoyable scene involving a real estate agent – but is just as often to its detriment, especially as the narrative becomes increasingly wayward in the second half.

Meanwhile, the tone of the piece is rather jumbled, never quite finding the right balance between its very hit-and-miss comedic beats and the more serious scary moments.

And while it's clear that the random and chaotic nature of death is a central theme of the film – something which makes perfect sense when you consider the highly-publicised deaths of both of Perkins's parents – this would have been portrayed more effectively if the film itself had maintained just a touch more discipline.

The Monkey is not bad film as such, and there's every chance it will go down well with more mainstream horror fans who were put off by the slow pacing and a perceived lack of action in Longlegs.

But for my money it counts as a pretty major let down after the brilliance of that previous effort – a moderately entertaining throwaway as compared to a haunting modern horror classic.

The good news is that the clearly prolific Perkins already has another film due for release this year as well – let's keep or fingers crossed that it's a return to his strong suit.

The Monkey is showing in UK cinemas from Friday 21st February

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