Early on in The Monkey, twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery) rifle through their dad’s closet. It’s been a year since their dad had mysteriously disappeared, leaving their embittered mom (Tatiana Maslany) left to raise the two boys on her own. The two boys try to piece together the memory of their father from the things he left behind — his pilot’s cap, and some postcards — but they’re mostly left puzzled by a strange toy monkey found in a box simply titled “Like Life.” It’s a scene that writer-director Osgood “Oz” Perkins might have lifted out of his own life — aside from the cursed toy monkey, of course.

“[My father’s] stuff, his closets, his areas, his drawers were endlessly compelling to me,” Perkins tells Inverse. “What can I discover about this person? And so, just the idea that you can pull this story out of a closet literally was the way in.”

Maybe all of Oz Perkins’ movies are a “way in” to his father. The director has spoken about how his last film, 2024’s serial killer thriller Longlegs, was his “most personal” film with regard to his celebrity parents. And it’s hard to escape the impact of being the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, who died in 1992 from complications from AIDS, or his mother Berry Berenson’s death during the September 11 terrorist attacks. For Oz Perkins, death has long been a presence in his life. And that’s partly what drew him to Stephen King’s classic 1980 short story The Monkey, which tells the story of a wind-up toy monkey who seems to bring misfortune everywhere it goes.

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I have a confession. For over a decade I’ve tried, and failed, to get into Monster Hunter. I have countless friends that love the series and as it’s only gotten more popular, I kept feeling like I was missing out. But in every game I’d try, from Monster Hunter Tri to World, I just couldn’t get it — I was missing something. But with Monster Hunter Wilds, it’s like a switch has suddenly flipped.

A big part of that, to me, seems to be how streamlined Wilds makes the Monster Hunter formula, chopping out a lot of the busy work to focus squarely on those big cinematic moments. This is the Monster Hunter for anyone who’s been looking for a way into the cool kids club.