This is another "Be Careful What You Wish For..." movie. When Gillespie (Kelly) is fired from his job at the packing plant he besides to have his revenge on those he thought responsible. So, that night at the bar, he entices Jake (Thomason) over and proceeds to tell him the story of the monkey's paw, which is sitting on the table. Thinking it all to be a joke, he makes a wish to have the car in front of the bar. Gillespie hands over the withered paw and says it now belongs to him. When Jake and Cobb (Lang) leave at the end of the night the car is in the parking lot... alone... unlocked... keys in the ignition... On the joyride, Jake swerves to miss a crocodile in the road and crashes into a tree. Cobb is thrown through the windscreen and dies minutes later. Shocked and afraid, Jake quickly wishes that Cobb wasn't dead... and this is where the fun starts.Of course, there are only three wishes so with only one left Jake will have to be very careful about how he words his last wish.I admit to hoping this would be along The Wishmaster lines but sadly it wasn't... and it wasn't as good either. Though what this story had was lashings of realism, which created an environment for the curse to run riot in. You have a business that's not doing so well. A boss and husband who sleeps around. A wife who knows something is wrong and wishes for her younger years and her love of that time. A man complacent with his life, though he believes there's no prospects or advancement, life will be like this until he dies. A man who's been through a lot and is in love with a woman who hates him and won't let him see his son. All of this anchors the viewer in the here and now and gives them enough drama to keep them interested.Add to this the element of horror, the supernatural, and murder and you have a good film. Simmons does an admirable job with the direction and has a surprisingly subtle hand with using light to create the right atmosphere at the right time. There are some really nice iconic and powerful part silhouettes, which he uses to create tension and suspense. The pace, on the whole, is brilliant. He keeps it at a slow crawl, which allows him to create a shiver of anticipation under your skin... though, at times it can be too slow. For example, the beginning sequence at the plant. Most of this isn't required. I know it's there so the audience can meet the characters, however, it felt overstretched. There's also a few scenes which are kind of superfluous, like the opening scene. This is then retold in greater detail by Gillespie at the bar. To be honest, it's not even a hook to draw viewers into the film. However, I did like the fact that Simmons cut away from some of the goriest parts of the film, letting the viewers imagination fill in the messy bits.The acting is above average, though there are times when things get a little messy. The worst being the ambulance scene at the climax of the film. Thomason just can't seem to get afraid, anxious, and scared quite right and opts to shout and thrash about. It's both Kelly and Lang who add power to the cast and film. Lang is so good as the resurrected and murderous Cobb. While Kelly does an ordinary Joe so well. There's not one scene these two are in that even comes close to bad. It's a shame that Dutton, who plays detective Margolis, isn't around a little more either.I'd recommend this to horror lovers who like their macabre curses and evil manipulated wishes gone awry. I will only be too happy to watch this film again, though it might take me a couple of years.

The Monkeys Paw is a tale that has been covered cinematically several times over the years including as far back as the early 30's. It tells the story of a paw that grants wishes but the twist is that it corrupts whatever it provides.The original story always told of a parent who wants a deceased child returned from the dead, this version tweeks that slightly but is still loyal to its source material.Stephen Lang brings life to the rather dull cast and brings forth a performance only rivalled by his in Don't Breathe (2016) Not the best version and a tad slow this is one of those premises where you could do a lot with it but here they fail to do so.Perfectly watchable but perhaps should have been somewhat better.The Good: Stephen Lang The Bad: Oddly boring Things I learnt from this movie: Monkeys Paw would make a great television series!

When I stumbled upon "The Monkey's Paw", I didn't know what it was about, who starred in it or who directed it. I am familiar with the myth of the magical powers of the monkey's paw, and that was sufficient enough to make me pick up the movie and give it a go.I was pleasantly surprised to see that Stephen Lang was in this movie, because he usually performs quite well in the stuff that he participates in, and it turned out that the 2013 "The Monkey's Paw" was also one such feat. And he was joined by C.J. Thomason whom also performed quite well.Now, the storyline was pretty much straight forward and simple to follow. Actually, it was so straightforward that it was actually a bit too predictable. But it was alright, because the movie was entertaining enough to sustain the predictability without suffering under it.To quickly summarize the storyline, then it is about Jake Tilton (played by C.J. Thomason) whom is given a monkey's paw and the three wishes that come with it. But when one wish turns his friend Tony Cobb (played by Stephen Lang) into a soulless husk of his former self, things turn foul and bad things start to happen.The atmosphere that director Brett Simmons managed to set up during the course of the movie was quite good, because it was quite becoming for the storyline and the movie as a whole.This isn't a horror movie that relies heavily on special effects, so don't get all worked up and hope for a grand CGI and practical effects show, because it just ain't there. Sure, there were special effects in the movie, and the effects that were there were to the point and functioning very well."The Monkey's Paw" is the type of horror movie that is driven by a good and entertaining storyline and have some well-rounded characters in the character gallery to help bring the story to life on the screen. While this is not the type of horror movie that will make you cringe and jump at the edge of the seat, it is the type of horror movie that broods and stays with you.

This is the familiar old story of be careful of what you wish for. A guy working at a factory is given a monkey's paw and told that it will grant him three wishes. He sees a fancy sports car in a parking lot and it is his first wish. By chance, the keys are in it, and so he takes a friend with him on a high speed joy ride. They crash, and his good buddy goes through the windshield, with deadly results. Wish number two is for the accident victim to not be dead. The rest of the movie deals with the undead Tommy being a very violent sort of guy with a penchant for bloodshed. Bad things happen to the wish master, all due to the monkey's paw. The acting is decent enough, but the story becomes silly. A good premise does not sustain and I give the film a 5/10.