Tubi Thursday: The Jolly Monkey (2025)

 A deluge of Stephen King Adaptations in Film was upon us last year.

As such, we got a Mockbuster or two.

This is...

Welcome to the Jolly Monkey Motel.

In our Cold Open, a Family in 1975 goes there and is killed.

In the Present day, its owners are now dead and the relatives are arriving.

The Granddaughter of the Owners arrives first with her Cliche Loser Brother.

They look around the place, seeing the creepy sites before the others arrive.

Key amongst the things to see are these Monkey Dolls, which now have leather faces sewn onto them.

That's not an immediate red flag, since the Movie has to happen.

Does this Monkey resemble the title Character of that Stephen King Film?

Yes.

That one was about a strange force killing people in elaborate ways Final Destination-style.

This is about a masked killer dressed up in a monkey suit.

I take back everything I ever thought about you, Primate.  I'll give you a chance now.

Can the family escape the wrath of the man-sized monkey?

Will they figure out the mystery of the Motel?

Will this be kind of disappointing?

To find out, stream it now.

Positives first- this is only a rip-off in the sense that it tries to trick you into thinking that it is the real thing.

Unlike many of these Mockbusters, the Plot isn't exactly the same/the best guess as to what happens in the original.
It is, for better or worse, a different tale with its own Plot.

That said, the Plot isn't great.  It's not the worst though.

I won't SPOIL the killer reveal, but I will say that your expectations are going to be better than the actual result.
If everything was just crazy magical/cursed, I'd be happier.

With that not being the case, that kill I teased earlier by the car raises about 42 important questions that will not be answered.

It is far from the worst idea, but its execution leaves lots to be desired.
And now, they can't be sued over the doll, since they used a real one...

A Film that starts out decently enough and builds up alright.  Sadly, the payoff is not nearly as jolly as I'd like it to be.