The Monkey's Paw

The Monkey's Paw was written in 1902 by W. W. Jacobs, but if you didn't know that and you read the message board for this film, you'd be tempted to think it was originally a Simpsons or Goosebumps episode.

While so many iconic stories like the one Jacobs penned lend themselves to parody or adaptation, the writers of this version actually created something original - which is why, I would guess, the ratings here are so much lower than they should be.

Instead of giving us one more pass through of the "be careful what you wish for" scenario, the filmmakers take us in a different direction. Saying much more would ruin the story, so I'll only point out that it's not only the protagonist who suffers for his choices.

All aspects of this film are competent or better. The length is also very appropriate to the overall arc and pacing. I'll also mention that the connection to the original story is so subtle that many will miss it.

The Monkey's Paw! - started out with pretty much, no expectations whatsoever. So glad I did that! The story behind this one is quite easy to anticipate, wont have any sick twists to it, but it will have a normal presentation, and it will follow its course quite nicely. The acting is good, especially from Stephen Lang, who made the film happen (my opinion), the death scenes are more than OK I'd say, and it has a nice pace. Doesn't slow for anything, has no dumb reactions as many modern horror got us used to, so all in all, a perfect movie for a late, cold, night!

Without going on and on about a simple, natural, yet effective horror, I would definitely recommend this one. A small surprise, a great add-on to one's collection, something that will put its mark upon you.

Such movies are hope that modern horror will not ultimately present itself as a complete failure. Aw, and of course, I recommend "Monkey Shines", if you wanna see a horror, with a monkey! That one is also truly great! Hope you'll enjoy both of them.

Cheers!

I don't know how many of these movies I've seen, that take an interesting premise (albeit one that follows the monkey's paw trope... a story dating back more than a century), and completely falls apart in the final act. I mean, practically everything out of Hollywood does that, but this is a low budget indie horror film shot in Louisiana.

Ok, Jake's former boss, who he may or may not have gotten fired, gives him a monkey's paw... with vindictive undertones. I really enjoyed how the first wish led to trouble (namely, the death of Jake's co-worker, Cobb), which leads to more trouble, the second wish, to bring Cobb back to life. Which, well you get the idea. If you've seen Pet Sematary (and the like), you know how this re-animation stuff goes. Some of Cobb's killings even made sense within the scope of this story, but what we ultimately get in the end, is a psycho killer on-the-loose, killing everything in his path. *Yawn*

And the end result of the final wish? WTF. The writers definitely ran into a brick wall around the 55-minute mark of this one. If you have a craving for this sort of story (in movie form, that is), check out the Wishmaster series, especially its off-the-rails 3rd sequel, Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. Watch out for some crazy gore, which this film was severely lacking. Hell, watch the Monkey's Paw segment in Treehouse of Horror from The Simpsons, for a genius take.

If "Heart-Shaped Box", ever gets made into a movie, I would like it to have a little bit of the feeling I got from "The Monkey's Paw", that without being a great accomplishment, delivers with a little twist; making it as one wanted sequel for the original story of W. W. Jacobs and this time unleashing the evil we don't get to read on the original story.

I kind of venture to say, that some may want to compare it with Stephen king's "Pet cemetery", or "The Serpent and the Rainbow" but, at least on my case I wouldn't dare to. Even though this is not a for the big screen of a movie theater, the film stands on its own, giving the obvious answer of what it would have happened after the mother opens to his dead son? Would he be like "I am alive again and I am better than before"? Definitely, the answer is no. Among the advantages of the story is that it doesn't play the main character as a dumb guy, just, naive and ingenuous man that unfortunately under the influence of alcohol and not having a good life, makes the wrong choices.

Unlike other horror, slasher movies, the cliché, (like the phone ringing at the most inopportune moment) becomes a necessary element. Why? Because we feel like it shouldn't have happened to them, meaning that we get to care for the characters, regardless of them being of secondary importance on the story, I would say that at this point is about "family" it gets way more personal. A little weird? … after the Mom's death… dealing with this pseudo – zombie? Also I really liked the use of the street cars, and the location of New Orleans, it gave the little touch for a little "Vodou".

The acting is fairly good, the ambiance, music and camera work let you appreciate the effort of the filmmakers,regardless of being a little slow between some of the scenes,and the appearances of the always welcome Charles S. Dutton, Daniel Hugh-Kelly (Cujo) and Stephen Lang (avatar), gives the necessary strength for the rest of the cast and the flaws you may encounter. Without being overexcited, I would recommend it much more than movies like insidious 2.

+1 for Stephen Lang's performance here Such a great character actor and a pleasure to watch him play just about any part

-1 For the Ending Where a certain So and So stopped beating another certain So and So...no spoilers, haha

Okay a Story told fairly blandly and ends up being pretty average and really only saved by the additions of Lang and an underused Charles Dutton