Neon really likes Oz Perkins. After recently acquiring the filmmaker’s soon-to-shoot “Keeper,” they’ve also picked up “The Monkey,” his upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s short story. Perkins’ horror thriller “Longlegs,” also set up at Neon, is being released theatrically this July.
Neon clearly sees something in the guy and are hoping he’s next big thing in horror. A24 gave us Ari Aster and Robert Eggers — Neon wants to give us Oz Perkins.
This past March, Perkins wrapped production on “The Monkey” which stars Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campell, and Sarah Levy.
“The Monkey” tackles twin brothers, Hal and Bill, who discover their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey.
As mentioned, Perkins has the much-hyped “Longlegs,” starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe, being released this summer. Neon are heavily promoting this film and, earlier in the winer, kept giving us these cryptic teasers, every Friday. A very effective trailer was finally released in March.
As for “Keeper,” it’s set to shoot this fall. It will star Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) and Rossif Sutherland (“Possessor”) and follows a couple as they escape for a romantic anniversary weekend at a secluded cabin only to be haunted by the presence of an unspeakable evil that unveils the cabin’s horrifying secrets.
Perkins, the eldest son of ‘Psycho’ himself, Anthony Perkins, is best known for his 2015 indie debut “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” and 2020’s “Gretel & Hansel.”