One of the Year’s Best Horror Movies Was Partly Inspired by ‘The Simpsons’
The biggest horror movie in the country right now is The Monkey starring Theo James and Tatiana Maslany. The title isn’t some kind of metaphor, like The Whale or Elephant, it’s all about a literal monkey. In this case, it’s an antique, cymbal-playing toy monkey that, when wound, causes those around it to suffer intensely gruesome deaths.
Critics and audiences seem to be enjoying the absurdly gorey movie, which is based on a 1980 short story by Stephen King. According to director Osgood Perkins, who also made last year’s Longlegs, the original script for The Monkey was dead serious, but he ultimately decided to play the film’s over-the-top violence for comedy.
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Surprisingly, one of Perkins’ key influences was The Simpsons — but not just the episode starring Mojo the tragic helper monkey.
In a recent interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Perkins was asked about constructing the fictional world of The Monkey, which, by necessity, required an entire town’s-worth of potential victims. “We all have our formative influences, works of art that connected to us and unlocked a part of our creative selves, in a really satisfying way,” Perkins explained. “For me, that’s The Simpsons. That’s true for so many people, because it was such a fresh take on culture, such a fresh take on neighborhoods, towns and the people in your lives. If I could name anything as being the inspiration for the populace of The Monkey, it’s Springfield.”
While the town in The Monkey contains no perpetually burning tire yard fires or escalators to nowhere, that explanation does make sense. And the Simpsons connections don’t end there. Perkins has also compared The Monkey’s gore-soaked slapstick comedy vibe to the ultra-violent antics of Itchy & Scratchy.
Oddly enough, Perkins has claimed as well that his appreciation for The Simpsons helped to shape his vision for Longlegs. “I was thinking a lot about The Simpsons, which (was) so formative for me. It was one of the first entities that commented on culture in a way you haven’t realized before,” the director explained.
Of course, that connection wasn’t exactly super-clear in the movie itself.
The Simpsons does overlap with The Monkey in other ways, too. King’s original short story was basically a modern riff on W.W. Jacobs’ early 20th century story “The Monkey’s Paw,” which, of course, was adapted for a segment of The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror II.”
And, incidentally, Perkins’ father, legendary actor Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame, was originally cast to play the creepy dentist in Season Four’s “Last Exit to Springfield.” Sadly, he passed away before he was able to record the part.
Although, if The Monkey really wanted to honor both Stephen King and The Simpsons, it should have found a way to include a Satan-worshipping Benjamin Franklin character.
