The trailer for a Stephen King film adaptation has been banned by several TV networks for its excessive displays of violence and bloodshed.
The 77-year-old director is no stranger to controversy but his latest adaptation may have just set a new benchmark for horror.
A TV spot for The Monkey, a chilling adaptation 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 - has been deemed too disturbing to air by major networks.
Watch the The Monkey trailer below:Directed by Osgood Perkins, the film follows twin brothers who find an old monkey toy in their attic, only to learn that each time it claps its cymbals, another gruesome death follows.
The star-studded cast includes Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Sarah Levy, and Perkins himself.
Distributor NEON took to X (formerly Twitter) to share that the trailer was flat-out rejected by four broadcasters.
“We submitted a TV spot for The Monkey to the four major TV networks. It did not go well,” NEON captioned their post.
The distributor posted redacted emails from networks and among the heavily censored responses was one from 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” was deemed unfit for 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 bluntly 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”.
However, one network did offer a compromise, suggesting that NEON could submit a new version of the trailer - as long as it excluded excessive blood and gore.
If anything, the rejection has only hyped the movie even more. Many fans took to the comment section to praise NEON for their "marketing".
“This is the best marketing you could ask for for the film,” one user commented, while another wrote: “No one does a better job of marketing their films than Neon.”
A third shared: “Love this type of marketing! They knocked it out of the park with Longlegs, and now it’s the same director & studios.”
And a fourth added: "Lmao I don’t know what this movie is but now I’m interested."
The highly-anticipated film has already received the seal of approval from King himself, who hailed The Monkey as “bats*** insane”.
"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," he added.
The Monkey will be released in theatres on February 21.