The Monkey’s Paw Prints – Xenomania 31

In this episode of Xenomania, Jon, Ryan, and Kearns crawl deep into the attic of childhood fears to unbox The Monkey—Osgood Perkins’s 2024 adaptation of Stephen King’s short story.

From cymbal crashes to cursed consequences, the team explores how The Monkey taps into one of King’s most haunting themes: the inescapability of family trauma. Is the film just a tale of cursed objects, or is it an allegory for inherited guilt and the decay that follows? Why do so many horror stories use toys as vessels for dread—and what happens when nostalgia turns toxic?

Jon fixates on the monkey’s design and the slow-burn structure. Ryan draws comparisons to Perkins’s previous work and questions whether The Monkey earns its tragedy. Kearns, meanwhile, goes full-tilt mythological, connecting the film to primal trickster figures and death portents across global folklore.

Along the way: discussions on horror pacing, generational hauntings, and why monkey imagery is way creepier than it should be.

Cue cymbals (or, in this case, drums)