Spoiler alert! We’re discussing key plot points and the ending of “The Monkey” (in theaters now) so beware if you haven’t seen it.

“Everybody dies, and that’s life” is director Osgood Perkins‘ overarching theme in “The Monkey,” and in that vein, the horror comedy does not disappoint: Many, many people die in colorful ways, be it disembowelment via harpoon or cobra on a golf course.

Based on a Stephen King short story, the film stars Theo James as twins Hal and Bill Shelburn who have been traumatized since childhood by a cursed monkey toy that brings about a shocking death when wound up with a brass key.

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Making “The Monkey” ended up being therapeutic for Perkins, who lost his father, “Psycho” legend Anthony Perkins, in 1992 to complications from AIDS, and his mother, photographer Berry Berenson, onboard a plane that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11.

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“If I’d made this when I was 30, it’d be a really rough movie, man. It’d be joyless and dark and sad and probably really serious and a drag,” Perkins says. “I’m 51 now and a lot of things have happened. Life has changed. You have kids, you go on, time heals and you can make a comedy about it.

“Death’s super-unfortunate. Sometimes it’s expected, sometimes it’s a surprise. It’s still going to happen and you just do your best with it.”

Perkins talks with USA TODAY about Death, deaths, King shout-outs and his monkey’s percussion selection.

Osgood Perkins nods to Stephen King classics in ‘The Monkey’

King’s Constant Readers will adore the Easter eggs Perkins included to honor the author. Hal and Bill’s babysitter is named Annie Wilkes – a nod to Kathy Bates’ “Misery” villainess – and their sex-ed teacher is Ms. Torrance, the last name of the troubled family in “The Shining.” “They’re in there and they’re just like little winks,” Perkins says. (There are also some non-King references, like a clock that reads the same time as the iconic clock tower in “Back to the Future.”)

“So much of what I do is in reverence to other things − like ‘Longlegs’ was just a pop art version of ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ So in this way it was like, how am I going to fly the King flag?” Perkins says. What makes King’s work special is this “insane sort of supernatural stuff flying around that’s really rich and imaginative and chilling and uncanny and brilliantly kind of conceived, and it all sits on top of real heart.”

But unlike in the Stephen King story, the toy monkey rocks a drum

In King’s original source material, included in the 1985 short story collection “Skeleton Crew,” the toy monkey brings about death by playing cymbals. But Perkins couldn’t have them because apparently Disney had copyrighted a monkey playing cymbals for “Toy Story 3.” “They own Darth Vader and they own the cymbals,” Perkins says.

The filmmaker initially thought having the monkey play a drum might “cheapen” it. However, Perkins figured out a way for the monkey to rhythmically build tension with a “Tommy Lee stick twirl” (when the next person is chosen to die) before the deadly downbeat. “When you’re handed a limitation, you can look at the limitation as a bummer, or you can see like, oh, I actually opened this whole other door and it’s just better that way,” Perkins says. “Thanks, Disney. You can keep it.”

‘The Monkey’ aimed for the most cartoonish deaths possible

Many horror fans will flock to “The Monkey” for the sheer quantity of outrageous deaths. Like Hal and Bill’s Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) accidentally setting her head on fire before getting impaled on the business end of a real estate sign. Or Uncle Chip (Perkins) being trampled by 67 wild horses while in a sleeping bag on a camping trip, leaving remains that look like a drop-kicked cherry pie.

The assorted gory kills are “much more in line with Itchy and Scratchy and Wile E. Coyote than they are with ‘Terrifier,’ ” Perkins says. His one rule: “All of these deaths would be completely impossible.” But there was some personal inspiration, like Annie getting her head inadvertently sliced off with a chef’s hibachi knife. “I took my kids to Benihana for every birthday of their lives, and I went to Benihana every birthday of my life to a certain age,” the filmmaker says. “I was like, ‘They got knives there, right?’ ”

Watching “Gremlins” as a kid was huge influence on Perkins’ “The Monkey,” and the director has received feedback from 12- and 13-year-olds who think “it’s the best movie they’ve ever seen.”

After many ‘Monkey’ kills, Death himself shows up in the end

Hal and Bill become estranged when, as kids, Hal winds up the monkey to kill his bullying brother, and their beloved mom (Tatiana Maslany) dies instead. Then when they’re adults, a vengeful Bill tries to use the monkey to kill Hal and instead causes a series of mass casualties.

The movie ends with Bill’s misuse of the monkey causing an apocalyptic event, and the bros make up (though Bill has his head flattened by a flying bowling ball). Hal and his son Petey (Colin O’Brien) decide to just keep the monkey and make sure it doesn’t do any more harm. On their way out of town, a Pale Rider on a horse – Death himself – saunters by in front of their car, with Hal giving the weary figure a small, knowing nod.

Death’s appearance was Perkins’ final middle finger of sorts to any sense of realism or reality. “You’ve culminated all this absurdity, you’ve done all this over-the-top stuff, and you’re like, ‘I guess I got room for one more,’ ” Perkins says with a laugh. “Oh, look, it’s the Bible coming to life in the neighborhood just with a stoplight and there’s Death. He does look tired and he is totally bummed and he’s had enough and it’s been a long hour and a half for him in the movie theater. It’s one of my favorite parts of the movie.”