Trailer for new Stephen King horror movie receives ban for ‘excessive violence’
Trailer for new Stephen King horror movie receives ban for ‘excessive violence’
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Four TV channels turned down the gory teaser video. The trailer for the film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Monkey has apparently been banned by multiple TV networks for its excessive displays of violence and bloodshed. A gory promotional video for the upcoming movie, which was helmed by Longlegs director Osgood Perkins and is set to be released in cinemas on 21 February, was turned down by four broadcasters, according to its distributor NEON.
![[Theo James takes on a dual role as twin brothers in the movie]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/02/12/04/Theo-James-the-monkey.png)
In an Instagram post, the indie production company shared redacted screenshots of emails that they had received from four “major TV networks”, with all of the companies declining to feature the trailer. “We submitted a TV spot for THE MONKEY to the four major TV networks,” the caption read. “It did not go well.”. The first email chain began with an employee at an unnamed broadcaster claiming that “the spot below would not be permitted in any programming” thanks to the “excessive violence” featured.
When NEON responded to ask whether they could outline the issues with the teaser so that these could be amended, the reply suggested that this wouldn’t be possible as “pretty much every scene in the spot” wasn’t suitable to air on TV. “Typically, we would do that, but in this case, it’s pretty much every scene in the spot,” the reply read. “It’s excessively violent with blood spatter, graphic images, severed heads.
Another email stated that “It’s been determined that the film / creative is too violent to air”, while a further message claimed it was “not suitable for our audiences, even with restrictions”. A different network gave the team behind the film the option to submit another promotional video without “excessive blood [and] gore”. This outraged reaction to the teaser only served to drum up further anticipation for the film, with one fan commenting: “Well now I’m even MORE excited for it.”.
“You've never seen anything like THE MONKEY,” the author wrote in a post shared on Threads. “It's bats*** insane. As someone who has indulged in bats***tery from time to time, I say that with admiration.”. The movie stars Theo James, Tatiana Maslany and Elijah Wood and is inspired by King’s tale of the same name, which was first published in 1980 and later featured in his 1985 story collection Skeleton Crew.
