内容摘要：As the fire dwindled, they sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

As the fire dwindled, they sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

In “The Monkey,” he also seeks to bring an absurdist, gleefully malignant humor to the proceedings. It’s a lot to bring to one table.But back to the pawn shop, where the monkey makes his (or her) first appearance. The shop owner is unimpressed with the pilot’s warning of the monkey’s dangers. A second later this is irrelevant, because he’s been disemboweled by an arrow.

The monkey, you see, unleashes murderous mayhem whenever someone turns its key and gets the drums going (that’s the other lesson; never turn the key!) The pilot tries to destroy the critter with a flamethrower.Then it’s 1999, and twins Hal and Bill Shelburn are looking through their late dad’s closet (Dad was that very pilot). They live with their single mom (Tatiana Maslany), who does her best to parent them. Hal is the sensitive, spectacle-wearing child; Bill is the nasty one who ate most of the placenta at birth. (Both are played by Christian Convery.)One night, soon after discovering the monkey in a box, the kids boys go with their nice babysitter to one of those hibachi restaurants where they chop and cook at the table. The monkey’s in the car. Soon, the babysitter loses her head, and we don’t mean metaphorically.

Things continue in that vein. Hal, bullied mercilessly by Bill and at school, tells the monkey, who keeps appearing in places like his bedroom or backpack, that he wishes Bill would die. But when the dreaded drums start playing again, it’s Mom who’s the victim.The two boys are sent to live with their aunt and uncle. Even moving to a small town in Maine does not rid them of the monkey. They try to dump the thing down a well.

And then 25 years pass.

When we next meet Hal, he’s working a low-end job in a store. He has no friends — which is pretty shocking, even in a film full of shocks, because he looks like actor Theo James. (Adult Hal and Bill are played by James, again with a pair of spectacles the key difference.)People take cover from rain at San Felipe Church in Portobelo, Panama, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, a day before the Black Christ festival. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

People take cover from rain at San Felipe Church in Portobelo, Panama, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, a day before the Black Christ festival. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)Pilgrims joke around with water after crawling to San Felipe Church to honor the Black Christ in Portobelo, Panama, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, during a festival celebrating the iconic statue that was found on the shore in 1658. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pilgrims joke around with water after crawling to San Felipe Church to honor the Black Christ in Portobelo, Panama, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, during a festival celebrating the iconic statue that was found on the shore in 1658. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)A woman drips candle wax on Valentin Solis as part of his penance, as pilgrims make their way, some crawling, to the San Felipe Church in Portobelo, Panama, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, during a festival celebrating the iconic Black Christ statue that was found on the shore in 1658. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)