If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

THE MONKEY'S PAW is less an adaptation of the famous ghost story by British writer W.W. Jacobs and more a typical supernatural slasher flick with a generic Hollywood feel. It provides a role for the reliably evil Stephen Lang, whose appearance in AVATAR has made him extremely typecast in this genre, but other than that it's largely uninteresting. The story has been chopped and altered so that it's barely recognisable as an adaptation of the old story. The film itself has a dark, blue-tinted look and boring protagonists whose fate you never really care about. Inevitably there are some gruesome interludes but as a horror film, this one's a dud.

Brett Simmons is a director who manages to challenge as well as enlighten through the horror genre with style and intelligence. Putting our spirituality and even our basic existential beliefs to the test, he uses a timeless story of terror to force us to examine the very basis of our own identity. Stephen Lang, giving a performance even more extraordinary than his sublime characterizations in Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, breaks your heart with his humanity while shocking us with his incredible depravity. The violence is sudden and startling but never gratuitous. It serves an important purpose if we are to accept the greater questions presented in the film. The climax is both stunning and courageous and perhaps Lang is one of the few actors capable of pulling off the overwhelming task given him by director Simmons. The moody cinematography and understated score create an atmosphere that is both beautifully haunting and a bit unnatural to our senses. All these elements come together perfectly in one of the most impressive films of the last decade.

Jake (C. J. Thomason) is given a monkey's paw that grants three wishes. After the first two wishes leave his friend Cobb (Stephen Lang) undead, Cobb pushes Jake to make a final wish.There have been many films based on the short story of the same name by author W. W. Jacobs, going back to at least 1933. Each is a little different, often because of the time period in which they are set. This one is a bit different because it features two friends rather than the traditional pair of mother and son. (George A. Romero has said this story could only be told in a short film or an anthology, but clearly many have tried to prove him wrong.) This one has more action than previous versions, and really makes the story its own. Whether it is better or not is up to the viewers. When compared to some adaptions (such as "Deathdream"), it seems unlikely this will develop a following. But perhaps?

"The Monkey's Paw" is a movie for in between and looks like a movie version of one of Stephen King's short stories. Upon further investigation, it appears to have originated from W.W. Jacobs who has written this story in 1902. The story is based on the well-known 3 wishes which are granted to someone. In this movie the paw of a dead monkey can achieve this. However, there is a snag. The wishes are carried out but you have to pay an extremely heavy price because you are tampering with fate.The basis of the original story is mostly retained in this film. Only the end has a different turn. The final message behind the whole story is in the description of the leg. "There was a spell written by a fakir. He was a very holy man. He wanted to show that life depends on fate, and those who are interfering with it won't do this without any sorrow." Actually, it is a perfect story with the right atmosphere for an episode of "Tales from the crypt" or "Creepshow". Also there's a comic of "The Monkey's paw" and even a radio show. It actually sounds a bit corny and feels like an old-fashioned ghost story to read to children at Halloween.Despite the fact that I didn't expect much of it, the movie was still reasonable. You should forget about the overused banality, such as a phone ringing at the wrong time. Ultimately, it's an ordinary creepy story with a bit of voodoo and a zombie section. The feeling and atmosphere of "Pet Sematary" leans close to it, but nevertheless, this movie has its own personality.The acting is reasonably well . You do have the feeling that you are watching a TV episode. I don't think it's screened a lot in the cinemas. It appears also that the protagonist C.J. Thomason has quite some experience in the world of television. Generally he played his part convincingly. However, his actions weren't always logical. Jake didn't have a easy life thus far. His mother is in the hospital and is suffering from cancer . He has a bland, probably poorly paid job with a gland of a boss, who's also married to his ex-girlfriend he apparently still has feelings for. A reasonable person would immediately think of his mother at the first wish. Nope. The first thing he wishes is to become the owner of a glitzy sports car parked in front of the pub. You can bring up the arguments about his drunken state and his skeptical attitude towards the so called wishes. But still ! Stephen Lang looked familiar, but I couldn't place him immediately. Compared with Jake he's a more colorful figure. In the beginning he played an ordinary fellow who apparently can handle his liquor. The changing into a blood-drooling murderous zombie who kills anything that stands in his way of fulfilling his only desire by a wish, is rather successful. So we get a soft-slasher zombie movie where the massacres are not visualized too gross. The most original was the part with the machine working on air pressure. A typical horror story and an enjoyable entertaining movie. Don't expect more. One thing always amazes me. Am I the only one whose first wish would spontaneously be to ask for a 1000 wishes more ? More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/