The Monkey

InThe Monkey, twin brothers Jim and George Tanner were inseparable as children, growing up in a loving family with their parents. However, their bond was disrupted when a mysterious wind-up monkey was introduced to their younger brother, John, on his birthday. The brothers initially treated the toy with a mix of fascination and curiosity, but soon they began to notice a dark energy surrounding it. The monkey seemed to have a malevolent aura, and a series of inexplicable and gruesome deaths took place. Initially, the brothers tried to blame the animal's first victim, a family friend, Mrs. Andrews, who had turned up dead with a single bullet in the head, but it wasn't long before they discovered that each subsequent death was linked to the toy, and the very location where the monkey had been present. Suspects were plenty, and so were misdirectors, but at the core, every single decision Jim made resulted from feelings of guilt. His thoughts drove George further apart every time and pushed them into the darkness of confusion about the world. Paranoia began to consume them. It got to the point where, they started accusing each other of the murders. These events led their family into a downward spiral of doom and grief as the death count steadily increased, with each being more heinous than the last. It gradually became clear that none of it stopped because of the toy being destroyed or "purged." Twenty-five years have now passed since those fateful events, and former brothers are now grown men. They could barely bring themselves to talk to each other. The past drove a permanent wedge between them, their lives taking very different paths. Jim married and had a daughter, while George embarked on a solo, but unfruitful life. The estranged brothers live on the opposite sides of town now – George in the bleak and eerie alleys and Jim in his pristine suburban home. Their lives come crashing down once again, when the events begin unfolding all over once more. One night, the seemingly resurrected monkey finds its way back onto Jim's property, right outside the bedroom window of his terrified daughter. That incident is where the sense of déjà vu sets in. The realization begins to dawn on the brothers that they somehow always land on opposite sides of these unfortunate situations - on with good, and against the evil thing. George receives a call from an unknown source warning him of the return of the monkey, and with this eerie feeling that he's been summoned for a responsibility he's neglected for too long, he hastily reunites with Jim, and the two brothers agree to look for the monkey, both wanting to break this curse. It was apparent that memories of their estranged relationship had not faded in this setting. However painful their past was, the terror that came with it was far more frightening. The true test of good versus evil would determine their lives from that day on. As they journey through the dark and twisted alleys of the city, the smell of fresh corpse parts gradually makes the place even more ominous. The brothers face multiple detours and narrow escapes, each of which teases a sense of horror on them. They ultimately land at George's hideout to collect clues, maps, and tools to help hunt down the monkey's latest hideout. Everything between the brothers seemed like going in opposite directions – their shared loathing for the accursed monkey and their conflicting personalities began to break down the barriers created long ago. With every new cruel clue they discovered and heeded however, things merely improved by both of them beginning to have understanding for each other in which empathy managed to supplant discordment.