The monkey first reviews: a vicious funny, gracious bloody good time

On By Littum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tjzo8e3b6c

Hot Off the Success of Last Year’s LonglegsAuthor-Instructor OZ PERKINS is back with another horror movie that is definitely popular with genre fans. Open is based on the Stephen King story of a damn toy that appears to be the cause of a number of deaths, many of them seemingly comparable to the smart killings of Final destination Franchise. As per the first reviews of the adjustment it is a very funny and extremely gory movie with an impressive double performance from Theo James plays twin brothers.

Here’s what critics say about Open:

How is it compared to Oz Perkins’ other films?

It’s his best movie yet and hopefully a sign of things coming from this talented storyteller.
– Dan Bayer, next best pic

During his last few features, Perkins has moved away from the vibes-based storytelling of his early work and at more accessible fare. Open marks a new step in this development.
– Katie Rife, by Club

If you are a fan of Oz Perkins’ previous horror film, you can expect a gloomy and depressing picture … maybe the biggest surprise of Open Is it that it sees Perkin’s operate in a brand new and unique state within his signature film making style.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

After the instructor’s more bleak works, it’s fun to see him step into the splatter punk territory. There is an argument that must be made that he should have been here all the time.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Perkins has always been a formally confident filmmaker but Open Contains some of his most striking images.
– Brian Thergerico, Rogerebert.com

Open Really feels like Longlegs With a touch of James Wan in it. It’s definitely more glossy and crowd-pleasing than Perkin’s last movie.
– Emma Kiely, Collider

Image from the monkey (2025)
(Photo of © Neon)

Will Stephen King fans like it?

That does not deny that Open Is very Stephen King through-and-through, and possibly one of the most creepy adaptations of his work on it.
– Edward Douglas, Weekend Warrior

Perkin’s honor King’s work by holding humor and carnage shoulder to the shoulder throughout OpenRipper 98 minutes.
– Tom Jorgensen, IGN -Film

Open is hardly your average King side-to-screen situation — a relief considering how many of them are already out there.
– Cheryl Eddy, Io9.com

Stephen King adaptations have existed in a wide range of forms and genres, and I have personally seen them all. That said we’ve never seen anything like Osgood Perkins’s Open.
– Eric Eisenberg, Cinemablend

Perkins takes significant creative freedoms in adapting Stephen King’s short story from 1980. However, all these changes remain true to the spirit of King’s work.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

By injecting an infectious layer of fun in the sizable gait (Perkins is) able to engage the spirit of King’s typical dialogue without being slavish for it.
– J Hurtado, Screenanarchy

Given that the story is inspired by a king creation, I expected the brothers to meet to best the beast, but there is none of the heartwarming bravery here – and it is a little refreshing.
– Amy West, Total Movie

How gory is that?

Direct Oz Perkins The most brutal, unreasonable and spectacular Gory horror film from 2025? It’s possible.
– Matt Donato, Daily Dead

Open Leave subtlety and seriousness in favor of gonzo and gory screens of ultra-violent death.
– Kristy Puchko, Mashable

Perkins goes whole pigs and stages some of the biggest splatter I’ve seen in a mainstream horror movie for years.
– J Hurtado, Screenanarchy

Perkins is unreliable in his gore, while still ensuring that there is a consistent, embedded atmosphere of fear that he always performs unusual.
– Emma Kiely, Collider

There is a lot Looney Melodies carnage in OpenIt all revealed in shocking little bursts … Gore is explicit, but the movie is never scary. And it doesn’t try to be.
– Katie Rife, by Club

The audience that is set to its disturbing/gross frequency will have a ball.
– Eric Eisenberg, Cinemablend

Much is made of Open‘s Gore, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint – when it is said, once you’ve seen a person explode in piles, the others don’t pack so much of a beat.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Image from the monkey (2025)
(Photo of © Neon)

Are the killers wise?

Perkins handles some of the bloodiest, itched killings of the year, and it’s only February! The killers in Open is less rubbing Goldbergian and more slapstick.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

Perkins has an absolute explosion of finding out foresable ways to murder people. An unforgettable death involves an electrified swimming pool; Another has an almost cartoonful degree of carnage after A woman’s head light on fire.
– Brian Thergerico, Rogerebert.com

Perkins demonstrates an excellent command of tone through these cruel deaths and they are not all punchlines … A few are really changing and effective reminders of the human efforts of history.
– Tom Jorgensen, IGN -Film

Where lots of horror filmmakers can detach Gore or deliver killings that are radically ruthless can get it with Panache and Vid, as Perkins shows here.
– Kristy Puchko, Mashable

A lot of fun comes from the build up to each murder … Open delivers lots of creative, scream-inducing examples.
– Cheryl Eddy, Io9.com

The Gore-filled killers impress with their creativity, but what makes them memorable is their rhythm … Every one a lander with an exclamation point that induces screams and laughter equally.
– Dan Bayer, next best pic

Is it reminiscent of other horror titles?

The most important comparison for most viewers will be Finally destination, But these films were undoubtedly more hopeful.
– Brian Thergerico, Rogerebert.com

Openmostly playing like a graze and more elevated Final destination Movies … But Perkins-discs in whole makes it Miles better than any post in the franchise.
– Emma Kiely, Collider

Comparisons with Final destination Franchise … is not so fair or accurate as the killings happen so quickly that you do not get enough time to really appreciate the mastery of Perkins’ special make-up effects.
– Edward Douglas, Weekend Warrior

In contrast to the similar theme Final destinationIt has something in -depth to say.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Stephen King adaptations have existed in a wide range of forms and genres, and I have personally seen them all. That said we’ve never seen anything like Osgood Perkins’s Open… different pieces of Open feeling memories of everything from Final destination to Addams family to The child’s playBut when combined, it becomes very much its own thing.
– Eric Eisenberg, Cinemablend

Open Best looks like an average episode of Stories from the cryptBut that’s not to say it’s just a Gorefest Lark.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

Theo James In The Monkey (2025)
(Photo of © Neon)

Is it funny?

Evil fun, with pitch-black humor rang completely.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

It can be a horror, but it is also a laughter revolt.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Perkins reveals a deeply morbid sense of humor that is only hinted at in his previous films, where he painted the screen red with joy with joy performed extremely gags plenty.
– J Hurtado, Screenanarchy

Perkins gives you constant reasons for laughing.
– Emma Kiely, Collider

Perkins stops Ante on his film’s comedic minds … It’s almost as if death has a sense of humor in this film.
– Brian Thergerico, Rogerebert.com

Open is a deadpan horror comedy that earns every laughter it stays with precise comic timing and perfect joke structure.
– Dan Bayer, next best pic

Especially a zipper assembly … will make the audience feel so wonderful indecision about whether to guff or dry heavy.
– Cheryl Eddy, Io9.com

Are there any standouts in the role crew?

Theo James stands out in his double performances like Milquetoast, excessively cautious Hal and his Mulleted Dickhead Twin Brother Bill.
– J Hurtado, Screenanarchy

James is fantastic in the double role … It is absolutely amazing how effective he separates (twins) from each other.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Maslany leaves a strong impression in (hers) role.
– Tom Jorgensen, IGN -Film

Tatiana Maslany makes Lois, the twins of mother, a wonderful no-nonsense “boy mother”, whose philosophy about life is both undermining dark and realistic.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

Image from the monkey (2025)
(Photo of © Neon)

Is there more for the movie than most horror movies?

It is an evil and hysterical sight of blood and brain fabric that makes you laugh, gasp, trick and even think.
– Kristy Puchko, Mashable

Open is one of the most exciting horror films in recent memory, mainly because it contains no fixed set of rules or violations explaining when, how or who dies.
– Bill Bria Discussing Movies

In the middle of all its carnage, Open Also leaves the viewer with deeper themes to consider … to have a movie with so much scandalous death is also Accepts death as something both everyday and inevitably feels like Open‘s most wise achievement.
– Cheryl Eddy, Io9.com

There’s a little meat on OpenMuch of it comes from the tension between the human need to understand why bad things happen and the cruel indifference in the universe in general.
– Katie Rife, by Club

The toy is slowly becoming a Jungian shadow that emerges and comes to represent a suspected family ban of sh-Ty paternity. It is here, during the introduction of this brand new idea, that the film is on its most exciting, and the monkey is most potent as an embodiment of self -enhanced sake.
– Siddhant Adlakha, Inverse

Open Is not afraid to ask existential questions, but every time Perkins senses that things are getting a little too deep, he with confidence in a decapitated head, a smiling portrait at a funeral or a red -eyed humming chimpanzee and undermines it.
– Amy West, Total Movie

Does it have any major shortcomings?

For those who are not looking for a 97 -minute “DELIGHT” roll, you fight with Open. It’s not a one-trick pony, but the film’s best trick is so dominant that less valued viewers can choose that wording.
– Matt Donato, Daily Dead

Open Is on its weakest when it tries too hard to explain what happens, either on a plot or at a thematic level. (The narrative can be particularly harmful in this way.)
– Katie Rife, by Club

The titular monkey becomes a massive metaphor for familial trauma and how it can haunt you-a welcome expansion of Stephen King’s short story, but Perkin’s manuscript handles the slightly clumsy, blunt with indicating the thematic intention of a heavy-handed closure of monologue.
– Dan Bayer, next best pic

The film’s deaf alerts about mortality and remorse are detained by a tonal random approach, laced with an irony that is neither fun nor bitter enough to make a lasting influence.
– Siddhant Adlakha, Inverse



89%


Open
(2025)
Opens in theaters on February 21, 2025.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jc0kjsixb0

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