Almost anything can be scary in a horror movie if portrayed properly though there are a few exceptions where little is required such as children, toys, dolls and animals. It takes almost no doing at all to make those aforementioned things scary in a movie and so it is that the makers of this film decided to use a toy monkey as the focus of horror, an item not as scary as it could be but one they used effectively enough to make for a decent affair.

Said monkey comes home with a father one day as a gift for his son and for a while, things are going okay. Soon enough though the plants in the house are dying, followed by the fish. After a bit, the pet dog is killed as the monkey uses its powers to take over mom’s body and actions and then an attempt at killing the boy happens. Dad is confounded by all of it and to make matters worse, Mom ends up in the hospital after an argument with Dad following the drowning attempt on the son. At this point, Dad realizes that something is up and decides to look into it when it is revealed that the monkey is most likely inhabited by a demon. Things go from bad to worse until Dad is finally able to get rid of the toy or at least when he thinks he was able to rid himself of it.

As far as horror movies go, this is a B production, maybe a bit worse and many things could have been far better than they were. The story is a little bland and throughout the entire picture, very little is going on. The only time something happens is when the demon monkey wakes up and decides to kill someone and that is far and few between. When it does, things pick up and become a must-see and it is hard to look away as the audience simply wants to find out if the monkey’s symbals will clash and spell doom for them or not. Those in-between moments see interactions between the father as played by Bob Mendelsohn and the son or the neighbour and it is not necessarily boring as it does provide a bit of characterization, but it plays out more as a melodrama on a Sunday night movie than it does the horror movie it purports to be. One can debate how poor this film might be and it is in many respects but it is interesting and there are suspenseful moments that lead to genuine scares. Maybe it takes being a father or a dog lover to feel empathetic in those moments but there are times when this movie is frightening, if only for a little bit and they come across well.

Some say this film took its inspiration from a Stephen King story entitled The Monkey and that may or may not be true but it does go out and do its thing, if not very well. A little more care and control, not to mention money, might have worked a little more in its favour and filled up some of that dead time with some scares, not to mention a bit of blood perhaps, of which there is none in this movie. When taking everything that was mentioned into consideration, The Devil’s Gift is not worth the time to seek it out but should one come across it, it is not all that bad of a watch either.

2.5 out of 5