The Monkey: The Mysterious Grim Reaper Finale, Explained
And what does the apocalypse have to do with it?
The Monkey by Osgood Perkins got a strange ending with a mysterious pale horseman resembling a ghost. Who is it, and how does the ghost's appearance affect the plot of the film adaptation of Stephen King's story?
Hal And Bill Threw the Monkey Into the Well
In 1999, twin brothers Hal and Bill found an old windup monkey among their missing father's belongings. The thing turned out to be cursed. The boys' relatives and friends began dying under mysterious circumstances.
Hal hated Bill, and one day he turned the monkey's key so that it would kill Bill. At the time, he was unaware that he was holding a cursed toy. However, the monkey took his mother, Lois, with it. After a series of incidents, Hal and Bill threw the monkey into a well.
The Monkey Gave Bill a Sign, and He Found It
In 2024, the monkey returned and began to haunt Hal again. He was afraid it would get his son Petey. He went looking for the toy to get rid of it – the monkey ended up with Bill.
Back in 1999, he guessed that it was Hal who got the monkey when their mother died. Bill returned to the well to take revenge on Hal with the help of the monkey. However, he found only a key at the bottom and took it as a sign that the monkey would return.
All the following years, Bill waited for the monkey and went completely crazy. The demonic toy gave Bill a sign through a fortune cookie, and he found it at Aunt Ida's house.
Bill got the monkey, hoping it would kill Hal. However, the evil spirit takes lives at its own discretion. Aunt Ida was one of the first victims.
Then not only Hal and Bill's acquaintances began to die, but also the rest of the town. Eventually, Hal and Petey convinced Bill to stop, but after the brothers reconciled, the monkey's curse took him as well.
Hal realized it would not be so easy to get rid of the monkey. So he decided to keep it for himself – so no one else would get the toy.
The Mysterious Rider in the Finale Is Death Itself
In the finale, Hal and Petey made their way home. On the way, they watched as the monkey finished off the last of its victims. It was as if a local apocalypse had come to town, which was not the case in Stephen King's story.
At the crossroads, Hal and Petey encountered a mysterious pale rider on a white horse. The old man had black eyes. Hal nodded to the stranger, who looked at him with understanding and continued on his way.
The Grim Reaper was mentioned earlier in The Monkey. In the finale, Hal and Petey met Death himself. The old man appeared as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – and not in the more familiar black robe and scythe image.
Bill Brought the Apocalypse to the Town
The other horsemen are Pestilence, War, and Famine. The appearance of Death means that Bill has orchestrated a mini-apocalypse on the scale of a town.
This attracts Death's attention and confuses him at the same time. The old man's understanding look means that he has accepted Hal's decision to keep the cursed item and will not touch his family for now.